Thursday 31 May 2012

366/152 - Coasters

Click here for today's joke-linked Project 366!

REVIEW: Moonrise Kingdom (12A)

There are those who will dismiss Wes Anderson's latest movie, Moonrise Kingdom, as a pointless periphery - quirkiness for the sake of it, rather like the briefly amusing, but ultimately irritating, Stella Artois Cidre adverts ("C'est Cidre not cider").



Moonrise Kingdom is a celebration of young love in the naively innocent America of the mid-1960s. It is both charming and exquisitely filmed giving a sense of period and a picture postcard view of the islands where it is set. There are plenty of Wes Anderson's trademark panning shots - moving from one room to another - and clever use of texts and letters that show an awareness of the possibilities of cinema without having to resort to CGI effects or 3D to achieve visual interest and effects.

Moonrise Kingdom is set in New Penzance, a small New England coastal town, in 1965, in a little coastal town in New England called New Penzance. Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) are two bright but unpopular kids who fall in love. Sam, an orphan, is a member of the Khaki Scouts. Suzy reads sci-fi and the music of Françoise Hardy on her brother's portable record player. She spies on people - her parents and their friends - using a pair of binoculars.

Sam and Suzy decide to run away together and the ensuing crisis highlights the problems in the lives of Suzy's lawyer parents (played by Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). Ed Norton is the ridiculous leader of the scout troop, and Bruce Willis is the lonely police chief, but they all pull together in fear and of the social services officer (Tilda Swinton) who is overly keen keen to pack Sam away into an orphanage.


The movie is gently comic throughout, with touches of the absurd and the exaggerated. There are few outright belly laughs, but they wouldn't seem at home amongst the quirkiness and oddity of Anderson's cinematic style - full of small town America and simple lives torn apart by more modern events and sensitivities all of which seem awkward and alien to the world of New Penzance.


The soundtrack is a fascinating mix of, amongst other things, period songs by Hank Williams and a variety of pieces by Benjamin Britten (including his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Simple Symphony and Noye's Fludde - which becomes particularly significant towards the end of the movie).

I thoroughly enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom - it is simple storytelling at its best, with some fantastic performances from all involved (but notably the two young stars in their first movie). Sadly, as is so often the case with the slightly off-beat, it has had a limited release and will be forgotten amongst the Special FX of all the blockbusters being released this week and next.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

366/150 - Grass Mowings

Click here for today's Project 366.

COMMENT: Why no memorial for Emily Davison?

This weekend, alongside the ubiquitous Jubilee "celebrations", Epsom racecourse will host the Derby. One of the pinnacles of the horse racing calendar made all the more significant by what happened 99 years ago.

On Derby Day in 1913, Emily Wilding Davison stepped out from behind the railings at Tattenham Corner into the path of Anmer, one of the king's horses as part of the campaign for "Votes for Women". She died four days later from her injuries. Davison was the only suffragette to die in pursuit of the campaign.



Shockingly the Epsom racecourse has no memorial to Emily Davison - no plaque or statue, nothing to identify the place where she stepped out in front of the galloping horses. Her selfless act of protest, and one of the most significant acts of protest in recent British history, is forgotten by the race horsing community, the racecourse owners or even Epsom council. and yet there are statues of horses that won the Derby (including one who won the race as recently as 1991 and whose statue was erected in 1995).

I used to live near Tattenham Corner and find it shocking that so much money was pumped into the tiny, under-used rail station (because the Queen uses it once a year) and not a single penny was put towards anything to mark the 1913 protest.


Surely it's time for a monument at Tattenham Corner? A blue plaque perhaps? Something to mark one of the most heroic acts of campaigning for civil rights this country has ever seen.

Next year is the centenary of Davison's death, the lack of appropriate recognition is something that needs to be addressed in time for that anniversary.

Monday 28 May 2012

Opinion: Let's leave FIFA and UEFA

Nobody was happy that Qatar, a nation without a single football stadium, was awarded the 2022 World Cup and there are many questions about bungs and corruption. Similarly, many questioned the extent to which the Russian oligarchs helped win their country the 2018 tournament and, after this evening's BBC Panorama programme, many now wonder how on earth Poland and Ukraine were given the right to host next month's Euros.


The solution is simple...

We should leave FIFA and UEFA and set up a new organisation, with rival tournaments and rival administration that aims to eliminate corruption, racism and everything else that's wrong with football at the moment.

It might only take one nation with guts and principles and the rest would follow - as long as they met strict suitability criteria.

Then countries can choose to take part in the clean or corrupt tournaments - they can join in the World Cup of hate or the friendly World Cup.

And please, don't think the UK is any better than Ukraine or Poland. We may have fewer racists on the terraces but the FA isn't anywhere near harsh enough with the racists and drug cheats on the pitch. Racism, cheating and corruption must be eliminated everywhere. Consistency is vital.

Sadly, I doubt the FA is sufficiently robust to stand up on principle, but I live in hope. I'd happily accept we miss a tournament occupying the international wilderness waiting for sufficient others to join.

366/149 - Games Maker uniform

Click here for today's Olympic equipment themed Project 366!

Sunday 27 May 2012

366/148 - Glass shadow

Click here for today's shadow linked Project 366!

Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises (a piano sonata)

Here's a new piano sonata "what I wrote"!

The title comes from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and will also be the inscription on the bell at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.



The sheet music is available from: http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/126960.html

Saturday 26 May 2012

366/147 - Pool Balls

Click here for today's Project 366 - which includes my favourite if this year's Eurovision Song Contest entries...

Friday 25 May 2012

Thursday 24 May 2012

366/145 - Dandelion

Click here for today's clock themed Project 366.

Rain - for solo piano

Today's the hottest and sunniest day of the year so far...

... so this morning I wrote this piece for piano called "Rain".

The sheet music is available from: http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/126705.html

Wednesday 23 May 2012

My Score Exchange page!

I've now got lots of new (ish) pieces available for digital download on Score Exchange.

Just CLICK HERE and take a look at the catalogue.

There's songs, piano pieces, solos for flute, clarinet, violin, a brand new piece for orchestra and a new rock number for brass band.... and much, much more!!

366/144 - Avocado

Click here for today's photo, music and word!

Monday 21 May 2012

Talány - for percussion duo

A duet for multi-percussion.



Each player has their own pair of bongos, a snare drum and a glockenspiel.

The 2 performers face each other and must be in reach of each other so that the stick hitting can be done!

All the rhythms derive from the Morse code of the names of the 2 performers for whom it was written. These rhythms are then taken through various transformations - moving their position in the bar, retrograde, etc.

The score is available from: http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/126523.html

366/142 - Looking out of the window

Click here for today's Project 366 posting.

Saturday 19 May 2012

Heavy-handed Olympic Torch security?

OPINION: Why the G8 is bad for all of us

The G8 are meeting at Camp David this weekend. The world's leading industrialised nations supposedly sorting out the economic woes of the world and finding a path to recovery following all the turmoil of recent years.

But they won't.


The G8 is a club. It is a club of capitalists and all they will achieve over the next few days are a few bland and, ultimately, meaningless statements, some nano disagreements to make it look like they explored a range of ideas, and then a plan which will anoint to nothing more than papering over the cracks and then continuing with the same failing policies.

There will be no vision for a better future, because the imbeciles who attend benefit personally from more of the same no matter what hardship it imposes on the rest if society.

The G8 needs to accept that capitalism and consumerism have failed. They fail every few years. They fail more and more often and each time is worse. Each fail is more detrimental to the majority of people but the G8 leaders don't care. They adopt policies that protect themselves from the fallout of their own failures and, in doing so, they divide all societies more and more.

And they not only divide their own societies, they also divide the world further. Sure, each G8 nation makes token contributions to the third world but they won't ever do anything to balance the inequalities of nations. Why would they? It might mean their personal power and wealth would be dissipated.

The G8 fear democracy. In the UK we, supposedly, have 3 major political parties, but, in reality, they are different wings of the same capitalist/consumerist party. They have no interest in making things better for society. All they care about is appeasing the proles so that they don't rise up and overthrow the abhorrent system that keeps them in the lap of luxury.

The Eurozone crisis is a perfect example of the inequality of nations and the evil of the big ones. It shouldn't be seen as Greece's problem, or Spain's, or Italy's. The solution is simply but, to the greedy parahias of the G8 elite, it would make the champagne and caviar in their stomachs to go rancid.

We need to accept that capitalism has no future. It makes a few wealthy whilst shackling the majority of people, and nations, to a yolk of virtual slavery.

All debt needs to be cancelled. After all, money is purely notional. Let's just zero it all.

BUT we can't then just go back to the nonsense of capitalism. A different, fairer international system beefs to be used. It must enshrine equality of all people and it must make sure that no one is living a life of luxury while others starve.

Yes, we need, at the very least, genuine socialism but, better still would be a global communism. Not soviet style communism (that wasn't real communism) but everyone working together for the better, to genuinely improve everyone's lot

Sadly, I accept that the public are too blind and too stupid to act. They will continue to elect clones of the same politicians who will run their nation and the world for their personal benefit.

It is time for a revolution. It is time to throw capitalism on a bonfire of greed. It has no place in a modern world. Capitalism fails. Let it die.

366/140 - Organ pipes

Click here for today's organ themed Project 366!

Friday 18 May 2012

REVIEW: The Dictator (15)

It seemed somewhat appropriate going to see Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy about a tyrannical despot on the day that the British monarch entertained several of the world's most evil oppressors as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.



I've not always liked Sacha Baron Cohen's creations: Borat was a sketch stretched to breaking point to fill a movie and Brüno was just boring but I have to say I really enjoyed The Dictator.

Yes, it has many tasteless jokes and pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable, and, yes, there are moments when you'll be asking yourself "Did he really just say that?" but, somehow, it all sits comfortably within the plot.


The film opens with a graphic saying "In Memory of Kim Jong-Il" and, superficially, it is the world's autocracies that are the butt of MU h of the humour. However, the real target is America, American politics and the greed of global corporations. For me the funniest scene is towards the end of the movie when Aladeen gives a speech saying about how bad democracy is compared to a dictatorship - but all the positives of a dictatorship are things carried out by recent American presidents.

The actual plot owes a lot to Eddie Murphy's Coming to America - it's the whole fish out of water, lost in New York story again - and, quite frankly, the romance storyline could be ditched, but the plot has direction and is more than just pegs to connect comic skits, which, ultimately, was Borat's downfall.

The Dictator is only 83 minutes long too. It does what it does without being dragged out unnecessarily.

Some will find it offensive, others will love it. I really enjoyed it.

366/139 - Bathroom Floor

Click here for today's photo music and word!

Liz Windsor celebrates with dictators, despots and tyrants

Liz Windsor continued her year of excess and self-congratulations today by hosting a lunch at Windsor Castle for fellow monarchs.


Among those in attendance were a number of unpleasant autocratic and absolute monarchs who really shouldn't be invited to pleasant lunches at British tax payers expense.

Included among these truly evil human beings are the King of Bahrain who has had protestors against his oppressive regime arrested or simply shot during the past year. Therr's also King Mswati of Swaziland who runs his country for his self interest while the population suffer.

Added to this are members of the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families both of whom rule nations with appalling civil rights records notably being opposed to equality for women and being anti-gay.

Particularly sickening was that many who attended wore military uniforms of the armies they use to oppress their populations.

Quite why old Liz thinks it is acceptable to entertain such despots is beyond me. Maybe she's been ill-advised or maybe she's gone ga ga in her old age. Or maybe she wishes she could be more blatant and evil rather than simply ripping off the British public financially and for privilege.

I often hear, from monarchists, what a great job Liz Windsor does. Today shows that she is a disgrace and a national embarrassment.

Gary Barlow & Andrew Lloyd Webber's official Jubilee song

It's a dream pairing: top songwriters Gary Barlow and Andre Lloyd Webber combining to write a song together. Whatever they produce is almost certainly guaranteed to be a number one hit.

But...

Isn't it awful?

Click here to watch the video.

The lyrics aren't that bad but the hook? "SI-I-I-I-NG" Is it a hook? It's a sort of collective whine.

It's even got the ghastly "Army Wives" on it. *shudder*

It takes bland to a new low.

And no, it's not because I'm opposed to the monarchy and won't be celebrating the jubilee that I dislike it. It's just a bad song.

If there was to be a communal sing song of it the chorus is more likely to sound like a herd if sick cows.

A disappointing song to mark a disappointing and idiotic institution. Maybe it is a match made in heaven?

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Come "like" my new page!

Please pop over to my new composing page on Facebook and 'like" it.

Ae Fond Kiss - soprano and piano

This is a setting of the Robert Burns poem of the same name - well, the first and third verses!

On this demo the voice part is played on an oboe.



Send me a message if you'd like to see the sheet music.

Carillon - for piano



Send me a message if you'd like to see the sheet music.

Can you help me name this piece for orchestra?

I wrote the following piece for orchestra this afternoon, but really need a better title...

Any suggestions?

England Squad for Euro 2012

And so it's been announced - the England squad for Euro 2012.


No Rio Ferdinand (good), still a place for John Terry (bad), and wasting a place to allow the thug Rooney to play once his suspension has been lifted (bad).

Inclusion of Andy Carroll is a surprise but he has hit form recently.

A shame not more youngsters in my opinion.

Goalkeepers
Joe Hart, Robert Green, John Ruddy

Defenders
Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, John Terry

Midfielders
Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young

Strikers
Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck

Standby
Jack Butland, Phil Jagielka, Jordan Henderson, Adam Johnson, Daniel Sturridge.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

366/166 - Sawley Marina

Click here for today's Project 366...

A photo of Sawley Marina, some music by Schubert and the word "altiloquent".

Sunday 13 May 2012

366/134 - Getting ready for the Premier League finale...

Click here for today's Day of Judgement Project 366!

PREVIEW: Last day of the Premiership season

And so, finally, we get to the last day of the Premiership season.


As a Newcastle fan, it's been an incredible nine months that has seen the team rise up the tale o already be guaranteed European football next season (all be it the Europa league)- and,if results do go our way we could still end up in the Champions' League. I'm not holding my breath though. I predict that Spurs will win and snatch 3rd place from Arsenal who will falter against Wigan. ewcastle's result is then irrelevant, but I predict a draw against Everton.

Still, a momentous season that has, quite rightly, seen Alan Pardew voted Manager of the Season. Fingers crossed that he's able to keep the squad together for the next campaign.

At the bottom of the table Wolves and Blackburn are already down, and the final relegation place will be between Bolton, QPR and Aston Villa (though Villa would be very unlucky to go down). I think Bolton, currently in 18th are unlikely to get anything more thana draw at Stoke and will end up in the Championship for next season, but I wouldn't be surprised if the were some twists and turns and Maths involved at various points in the afternoon.

As for the title, it's a straight fight between the Red and Blue halves of Manchester. City have won both the derbies this season (the 6-1 win at Old Trafford being one of the highlights of the season) and Manchester United have thrown away an 8-point lead in the past month. So the momentum is against Fergie lifting the trophy again.

It has been one of the most exciting contests in recent years and is probably the closest battle for the title since the climax to the 1989 season, when Arsenal snatched the title from Liverpool with the last kick of the ball.

Manchester City haven't won the title for 44 years and only have to beat to QPR to make amends for those decades of hurt (let's be honest, Manchester United are going to beat Sunderland but they're not going to get into double figures and that's what it will involve).

I hope it's all not all over by 3.15. I hope for twists and turns and surprises. I hope that next season can be just as exciting. I hope that Alex Ferguson ends the season trophyless. I hope Newcastle do snatch a Champions' League place!

Surfing the biggest wave ever

Hawaiian surfer enters Guinness Book of Records for successfully surfing this 44-foot high wave:

Britain's Got Talent - the joke must end

There are so many things that Britain's Got Talent should rightly be criticised for: the taunting and mocking of people with learning difficulties; the way it monopolises ITV's schedule for weeks on end; the public humiliation and destruction of hopes; and now we can include animal cruelty.



On Saturday evening, a dancing dog called Pudsey won this year's BGT. An absolute outrage, made all the worse by the fact the British public voted for it.

After this it would be wrong to ever call it the GREAT Vritish public. There is nothing great about making animals perform for human entertainment. It is cruel and abusive. If it had bee an elephant in a circus there would probably have been a public outcry.

But, for some reason that's beyond me, the public, lead by Simon Cowell's enthusiasm for dog acts, think that making a smelly shit machine walk on its hind legs to music is both entertaining and talented.

It is not.

Simon Cowell, the show's prodigal guru, identified the problem and said that it would be wrong for anyone to say a dancing dog act was animal cruelty.

Why did he feel the need to say that?

Because he knows that it is animal abuse.

Some say it's cute. It's not. Some say it's funny. It's not. Some say there's no harm, which is a lie.

The show must be stopped. Paying someone half a million pounds to publicly abuse an animal is just wrong. It should be criminal.

Saturday 12 May 2012

366/133 - Jerry Seinfeld

Click here for today's Jerry Seinfeld themed Project 366!

Roy's dilemma: Ferdinand or Terry

According pundits on Radio 5 this is Roy Hogdson's big dilemma this week. Should he pick John Terry or Rio Feedinand for the forthcoming Euros?


What an awful choice.

Should the new England manager pick a proven drug cheat who has been patchy with his form this season and, as he's getting on a bit, is likely to be tiring after a long season, or should he choose a hot-headed thug, with a poor disciplinary record this season, who hasa pending court case for racist abuse and who has also been off form lately?

Drug cheat or racist thug? Tough choice.

I hope Hodgson surprises everyone. Nobody is expecting much from the team at the Euros this year. Why not pass over all the tired has beens, skip a generation and pick a youthful squad who will be the core of his selections as England, hopefully, head towards the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

Sadly, I fear he'll give the old guard a final hurrah - and, consequently, England won't get beyond the group stage.

Friday 11 May 2012

Texting by David Cameron: a simpleton's guide

LOL = Lots of love

ROFL = Really Osborne? Fuck Livingstone

LMAO = Louise Mensch Attacks Osborne


PMSL = Peter Mandelson Sniffs Lube

MILF = Moronic, Imbecilic Liberal Fuckwits

LMFAO = Let Miliband Fake Another Orgasm

OMG = Osborne Must Go

FML = Fuck! More Liberals

IDK = Leader of the Tory Party before Michael Howard

HMU = Harman, Minge Underpants

PROPS = Papers Report Our Party's Shit

WBU = Would Boris U-turn?

KK = One k short of my immigration policy

SUP = Skinner Ups Pressure

WDYMBT = Why Don't You Mash Boris's Testacles?

IYKWIM = If You Know Why I'm Moronic

FWIW = Fucking Women In Witney

IDC = Is Dorries Clueless?

WWJD = What Would Johnson Do?

BGT = Boris's Got Talent

SOZ = It's All The Fault Of The Last Labour Government

WTF = Wanting Thatcher's Funeral

NSFW = Nick Suffers From Wind

ROFLMAO = Rang Obama For Lessons Managing Apparent Omnishambles

366/132 - Chinese take away

Click here for today's Chinese themed Project 366.

At last, an honest politician...

Olympic Orbit Tower

Anish Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit, which has just be completed in the Olympic Park, will be the UK's tallest structure.

Here's a short film about it.

Confusing paedophiles and paediatricians

Rebekah Brooks said, to the Leveson Inquiry, that nobody could have predicted that the public would confuse paedophiles and paediatricians.

Clearly she's not seen this Brass Eye special from 2001:

Brass Eye Special - Paedogeddon

Move to the Beat - London 2012 - Mark Ronson & Katy B

You've probably seen the short ad, but here's the full length track:

REVIEW: Mirror, Mirror (PG)

I went to see Mirror, Mirror when I made the mistake of giving my daughters the choice of movie to go see.

It's not an awful movie, and there's clearly been a lot spent on it, but it's not a good movie by a long way.



The movie begins promisingly with background story told in puppets and CGI, and the's a mildly entertaining Julia Roberts monologue, which suggests a knowing, tongue in cheek tone that, had it been followed through, could have made a much better film.

The problem is that it doesn't really do anything more than the classic Walt Disney cartoon. The fight scenes are more realistic (hey, it's got real actors not characters!) but there are probably too many of them; evil queen isn't really evil enough - for a film that was clearly a vehicle for Ms. Roberts it does rather waste her talents; comedy, and here I mean the dwarves and the excruciating scene when the prince thinks he's a dog, is just not very funny (though my 6-year loved the prince as dog scene); and the great romance isn't, we'll, romantic enough.

It's a missed opportunity. I just hope that the second Snow White more of the year (Snow White & the Huntsman) is better.

REVIEW: Dark Shadows (12A)

If you like Tim Burton movies you'll almost certainly like Dark Shadows. It does, to paraphrase a well-known advert, it does exactly what it says on the tin!



The movie begins back in 1752. Joshua Collins and his wife set sail from England to America with their son, Barnabas. Barnabus grows up to be a wealthy and successful playboy figure in the fishing port of Collinsport, Maine - the town having taken its name from his family. He lives in the gothic Collinwood Manor, which his family built with the fortune they made from the fishing industry.

Barnabus makes the mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard, who turns out to be a witch. In revenge, she kills both Barnabus' parents and curses the rest of his family. She also casts a spell that will make all Barnabus' lovers leap to their deaths from a nearby cliff. Barnabus does find true love with Josette, but, under the influence of the spell, she falls to her death from the cliff. Finally, Angelique turns Barnabas into a vampire, so that he will live in misery for all eternity. Then she buries him alive, in a coffin secured shut by long padlocked chains, out in the woods.


The action moves forward two centuries to 1972. Barnabas is woken and accidentally freed from his coffin by a group of construction workers. He kills them in the manner of a vampire, by sucking their blood. He finds his way back to Collinwood Manor which is now in desperate need of repair, as much of it is in ruin. Barnabas' dysfunctional descendants still live in the manor house, and he decides he will bring back the family its glory as it once was. However, when Angelique finds out he has escaped his grave, she plots further revenge to his family and tries to win back his affection.


The movie is loosely based on a 1960s US TV series of the same name, and there is also a dose of Beetlejuice about it.

There's dollops of gothic, and some very funny comic set pieces, many of which make excellent use of 70s songs as a musical backdrop. There's a seduction scene that owes more than a nod to a famous scene from The Tall Guy.

Helena Bonham Carter is tremendous as the Collins family "live in psychiatrist, and both Eva Green and Michelle Pfeiffer both vamp it up to the maximum! Danny Elfman's score is suitably gothic in nature, and provides a great contrast to the cheery 70s pop songs, and the appearance of Alice Cooper ("the ugliest woman I've ever seen") at a ball is well chosen.

If you like Tim Burton you'll enjoy Dark Shadows, it has all the thumbprints of his recent work, and, equally, if you don't like his work you're best avoiding this movie.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

COMMENT: Obama supports same-sex marriage

It's something that few thought they'd hear from an American President, and particularly not one who is known for being involved in a fairly evangelical church, but Obama coming out in support of same-sex marriage is a great day for human rights in the USA.


24 hours earlier, North Carolina had voted 61%-39% against same-sex marriage and enforcing a constitutional ban on gay weddings, which made it all the more important that Obama made his position clear.

In the last few days, Joe Biden, the otherwise invisible Vice President had said he was in favour of same-sex marriage but pointed out that it was his personal opinion and not necessarily shared by the President. At that point the Obama repeated his position on the subject as "evolving" - which has been his official position since 2010.

I dread what the backlash will be. The right-wing press has already started to attack Obama. Fox News said his decision was anti-marriage.

The problem is that the churches have too much influence on American society - brainwashing millions with hatred and bigotry, but Obama is right. It is time to embrace the gay community and give them equality. Not allowing gay marriage is an untenable position in 2012.

I'm not an Obama fan but, given a choice of him or Romney, an right wing extremist, science denier and religious bigot, I hope that the President hasn't destroyed his re-election. Maybe remaining neutral until he was safely back in the White House would have been more sensible?

366/130 - Take Away Salad

Click here for today's Project 366: salads, the end of the world and wound tissue!

Dies Irae

Yesterday, when I was sending around my Pie Jesu, one soprano replied saying that she was looking for something more rock/opera in style.

So, this morning I wrote this: (TURN IT UP LOUD!!)

THIS IS A NEW VERSION - with the addition of an electric guitar!



A setting of the Dies Irae in a crossover rock/opera style for solo soprano with "orchestra".

The Dies Irae is a Latin poem all about the Day of Judgement and the end of the world!

The solo soprano part is played on an oboe on this instrumental version. The soprano sax part that provides the "echoes" could easily be a second voice and the piece used as a duet.

If you'd like to see the score: Click here

Tuesday 8 May 2012

COMMENT: Time for schools to give elocution lessons?

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a rant about accents. It's not even going to be a rant about long or short vowels. What's concerning me is the noticeable increase in the number of adults who seem totally incapable of pronouncing "th" in words.

It's absolutely awful.

Guilty


Words beginning with "th" are pronounced as if there's an "f" there instead.

Words ending with "th" are pronounced as if there's a "v" instead.

Most of the time it doesn't interrupt the flow of speech - the speaker just sounds like an under-educated child who hasn't been taught how to speak properly - but there are times, when there are a lot of such mispronunciations, that it becomes increasingly hard to understand what is being said.

Don't these people realise they are making them sound stupid? Like a 3-year old still learning to speak properly?

Schools, as far as I am aware, have ignored such problems over recent decades, deciding it's accents, and regional and individuality is good. It's not, if it makes communication difficult.

Schools need to offer elocution lessons to those who don't speak properly and clearly and it's the duty of society to highlight adults who are destroying the language with their infantile babblings.

366/129 - Utensils

Click here for today's Project 366.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. President"

It's 50 years (19th May 1962) since Marilyn Monroe famously (some might say infamously) sang Happy Birthday, Mr. President to John F. Kennedy at a celebration to mark his 45th birthday.



It remains, of course, an incredible and iconic performance that has been copied, mimicked and parodied on many occasions during the past half century, and had been made all the more poignant by the fact this was one of Monroe's last significant public appearances. Added to that poignancy, there is, of course, the speculation of an affair between her and the young President, as well as her sudden death later that year, and his assassination just eighteen months later.

In reality, JFK was still a fledgling President. He'd only been President for a just a little over a year, though, of course, he was nearly halfway through the time he was to actually be in the White House. The 'Bays of Pigs' invasion had already taken place, but this was still before many of his most memorable moments including the standoff that became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and well before his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech about the building of the Berlin Wall.

At the end of 1960, at just 43 years 236 days, John Fitzgerald Kennedy had become the youngest person, and the first Roman Catholic, to be elected to the Presidency of the United States when he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate who later went on to become President in 1968 (Theodore Roosevelt was actually the youngest person to ever become President aged just 42, but he had assumed office following William McKinley's assassination and wasn't elected). Kennedy's youthful vitality gave hope to an American population that was beginning to looking forward, standing strong against communism and the threats of the Soviet Union, and, finally, putting memories of the Second World War behind it.


By 1962, Marilyn Monroe was, arguably, the biggest name in all of Hollywood with a string of successful movies already behind her, including Some Like It Hot, The Seven-Year Itch, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. As well as her acting, she was also well-known for a number of songs including I Wanna be Loved by You and Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend. Added to that, she had a private life that was the source of considerable scandal and gossip. Marilyn married three times in total, to James Dougherty, baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio, and playwright Arthur Miller, and, as well as her alleged affair with JFK , she was rumoured to have had several other affairs including with Marlon Brando and JFK's brother, Robert Kennedy, who, like JFK, was also assassinated.


It had been decided to hold a gala evening to mark the President's birthday. It was, as you'd expect, to be a rather over the top and lavish event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and, it was hoped, that it would help raise funds for the Kennedy's Democratic Party. The event took place on May 19th, 1962, ten days before the President's real birthday, and lasted several hours, featuring a number of performances by various celebrities. Impressively, more than 15,000 people paid to attend the event, which is testament to quite how popular JFK was at that time. One person who wasn't there, though, was Jackie Kennedy, JFK's wife.


Peter Lawford, an English-American actor who was compering the event, introduced Marilyn onto the stage. He was a member of the infamous show business "Rat Pack" group of actors and entertainers which, of course, included the likes of Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The "Rat Pack" had backed Kennedy's push for the Presidency and this was another opportunity for some of them to show their support and help the Democratic cause. Additionally, Lawford was also JFK's brother-in-law, having married Patricia Kennedy, JFK's sister.


Monroe was notorious for her lateness to events, and also on to movie sets, and had recently been struggling to get over a virus that had badly interrupted her filming of Something's Got To Give, in which she was to co-starr alongside Cyd Charisse and Dean Martin. On the day of the birthday gala, it was reported that Marilyn had a very high temperature and recurrent sinusitis. She had also suffered from several bouts of sickness. As was shown in the recent movie, My Week with Marilyn, Monroe was beset with nerves and doubts about her own abilities as an actress, and she often found it difficult to confront and overcome these nerves, which often lead to her being physically sick.

Lawford decided that he would make a joke of Monroe's notorious lateness. He had decided to introduce her several times throughout the evening, but, of course, on each of those occasions she didn't appear. Eventually though, several hours into the event, she walked out on to the stage, and Lawford amusingly announced to the audience that they were witnessing the "late Marilyn Monroe".


Monroe's performance was astonishing for its racy, saucy and blatantly sexual nature. It had been choreographed by Carol Haney who had made a name for herself as the choreographer of The Pajama Game. Marilyn simpered and oozed sensuousness while she was on stage, in a way that some found surprising and other considered shocking for an event marking the birthday of someone who was, at the time at least, considered to be rather wholesome President, married and with a young family.

Monroe was accompanied by the jazz pianist, Hank Jones, but I doubt that anybody remembers anything about the accompaniment. Singing in her famous breathy and sultry voice, Marilyn sang the traditional "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics, with "Mr. President" inserted at the point when the birthday boy or girl's name is normally sung.


"Happy Birthday to You" is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most performed song in musical history. The melody comes from a song entitled "Good Morning to All" which had been composed by Patty and Mildred J. Hill way back in 1893. Patty was a teacher at a kindergarten, and Mildred, her sister, was a pianist and composer. They hoped that "Good Morning to All" would be song that would be easy for young children to sing at the start of their day at school. The melody wasn't published with the lyrics "Happy Birthday to You" until 1912, but it's thought it is likely that the birthday version of the song existed as part of an aural tradition for a few years before that. Never before Marilyn's performance had anyone seen or heard it sung in such a blatantly sexual and sensuous way - never before had it been vamped up in the way that Marilyn did for JFK on that night in 1962.

Following straight on at the end of "Happy Birthday to You", Marilyn continued with a short snippet from the classic Bob Hope and Shirley Ross song, "Thanks for the Memory", for which she had specially penned some new lyrics aimed at Kennedy:

Thanks, Mr. President
For all the things you've done
The battles that you've won
The way you deal with U.S. Steel
And our problems by the ton
We thank you so much


At the end of the performance, President Kennedy came onto the stage and joked about the performance, saying, quite clearly with his tongue in his cheek, "I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way," making out, of course, that Monroe's delivery, as well as her racy dress, were more cutesy girl next door and American apple pie than simpering sex symbol.

Alongside Marilyn's actual performance, the other big star of the show was the dress she wore that night. Monroe's dress had been designed by Jean Louis. It was made of a sheer, flesh coloured marquisette fabric, into which an astonishing two and a half thousand rhinestones had been hand-sewn into it. In fact, it wasn't the only thing that had been sewn in by hand - according to reports, the dress was so tight-fitting that Marilyn had to be literally sewn into it. For that self same reason, it is claimed that she wore nothing underneath it either. When the bright stage spotlight was directed onto her, those in the hall were under the impression that the fabric simply "melted away" and she was left appearing to be dressed in nothing more than the spectacularly shining rhinestones. In 1999, the dress was sold at an auction in New York for a sum just over $1.26 million.


Marilyn Monroe's body was found at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, less than four months after her performance of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" on August 5, 1962. She had died from an overdose of barbiturates. She was aged just 36.

John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

Fifty years on, both of them remain significant iconic figures of post-war America, and her performance of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" is still remembered as one of the most famous performances in history.

Pie Jesu - for soprano and piano

Here's a demo of a setting of Pie Jesu I've written.

It should be for voice and piano but on this the soprano is played on a cor anglais!



Click here to download the sheet music.

Monday 7 May 2012

Sunday 6 May 2012

TRAILER: Moonrise Kingdom

I'd not heard of this movie until I saw the trailer earlier. Now I'm totally hooked and want to know more!

Can the movie be as wacky and intriguing as these two minutes?

366/127 - Lock gate foot holds

Click here for today's photo and music, as well as an amusing word of the day...

COMMENT: Cinema is too expensive

This afternoon I am taking my two girls (ages 6 and 4) to see Mirror, Mirror at the cinema (Showcase Cinema, Nottingham). (I'm writing this listening to bland sons waiting for the adverts to start).


Having read various reviews, I don't have high hopes for the movie but it was their choice.

The tickets were expensive enough (£8.40 for an adult, £6.00 for each child), and with a tiny bag of sweets each, a small (labelled as medium - it can surely only be medium if there are smaller and larger sizes) popcorn and a fizzy drink that we shared and this trip to the cinema ended up costing over £30.

Yes, £30 for a mediocre movie lasting 90 minutes plus some refreshments for one adult and two infant schoolchildren.

That is too much.

No wonder there's us plus one other family here and the rest of the cinema is empty.

Yes, I know it's optional and we should have gone to the Saturday morning kids' movie but that wasn't possible.

If cinemas want to survive they need to wake up to reality. With prices like this they are commuting business suicide.

COMMENT: Booing the National Anthem

There were a lot of tweets yesterday suggests that some of the crowd at the FA Cup Final at Wembley booed the National Anthem when it was played in the traditional pre-match build-up.



I was watching the match on television and hadn't noticed much in the way of booing. Certainly, though, the crowd didn't quieter down for the anthem.

There were suggestions that the booing came only from the Liverpool fans, but, unless you were in the stadium, I think that's impossible to judge.

There could be many reasons for booing the national anthem:

1) The later kick off time (5.15 rather than the traditional 3pm) probably gave fans more time to consume alcohol before they got to the ground.

2) Maybe football fans have had enough of the pointless traditions before the FA Cup Final which not only include someone (often a quasi- opera singer who they've never heard of) performing the National Anthem but also the old Christian hymn, Abide with Me.

3) It's possible that it wasn't made clear what was happening, and in the excitement of the event the fans continued chanting because they didn't realise it was anthem time.

4) The tide is turning and, in this Diamond Jubilee year, the public are starting to reject the notion of monarchy and privilege. Maybe they link the awful dirge-like French hymn tune with its requests to an imaginary superbeing to look after one person, and one person only, to be out of touch with the mood of a nation that has just electorally rejected the party of the privileged and wealthy.

5) Maybe the crowd were booing something (or someone) specific in the stadium - Suarez and Terry both seem to get increasingly hostile receptions from rival fans due to their unacceptable behaviour on and off the pitch.

I suspect it's beer talking, or booing. I 'd love it to be the rejection of monarchy. Whichever it is, it's worth keeping an ear out for future events.

Maybe it's time for a new National anthem - one that's inclusive, doesn't plead to an imaginary friend, and one that's genuinely about the nation?





~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is the link from the comments below so it's easier to click on: CLICK HERE.

Saturday 5 May 2012

366/126 - Dandelion clock

Click here for today's Project 366: a dandelion clock; Hayley Westenra; Drinko de Mayo; and some reading!

"One vision" - Team GB's official Olympic & Paralympic song

It was, of course, somehow inevitable that there would be an "official" Team GB for the forthcoming Olympics and Paralympics. There's a long tradition of good and bad sporting songs that have been produced over the years but this is just awful.



Alfie Boe (of "Les Mis") fame and Kimberley Walsh (a sometime member of Girls Aloud) have recorded a version of the Queen classic, One Vision.

It's a great song and it is a classic, but this cover version is simply appalling.

They've tweaked a few words to fit the purpose so "one man" becomes "one team", etc. Not in itself a hanging offence, but it all goes wrong when Alfie Boe opens his mouth.

Mr. Boe's faux-operatic vocal performance just sounds idiotic on this rock song, with it's short phrases and earthiness. It's like when Pavarotti recorded Miserere with Zucchero - the palid Italian pop singer sounded better. Here it is Kimberley Walsh who benefits from the pomposity of Boe's performance which makes Freddie Mercury sound shy.

I also struggle to understand why they're recycling songs from 30 years ago instead of celebrating the current crop of British songwriters by having a new, specially written song.

My final gripe isn't about the song but about "Team GB" - a cringeworthy epithet that manages to ignore the fact that it a UK team that includes Northern Ireland as well as the three Great British nations.

Awful, awful, awful.

Let's hope the opening and closing ceremonies are better than this rubbish.

How the F.A. killed the F.A. Cup

The F.A. Cup final used to be the climax of the season - the last match of domestic football before the summer break.


T.V. and radio used to spend the whole day building up to the 3 o'clock kick off - we'd catch up with the teams having breakfast, getting on the team coach, Keith Chegwin would host silly games of supporters of the two teams playing against each other, there'd be the F.A. Cup final songs. Even my mother, a fervent opponent of sport on television, would watch and, on occasions, even wear a rosette!

The F.A. Cup final would transcend football. It was more than just 90 minutes of sport, it was a social event - a national event.

But, in recent years, the F.A. has done its best to kill the F.A. Cup final.

It's been a long slow death but the F.A. Cup is close to the end. It needs to be saved from the F.A... and from television schedulers.

I guess the first nail in the coffin was the play offs. This meant that the domestic season, even though it was just in the lower leagues, went on beyond the natural end of season, and meant that the F.A. Cup final couldn't be the last match of the season.

Then the F.A. decided to remove the possibility of a replay in the final (and semi-final?). Yes, I know the players and managers complain about how many games are played in a season but if they were truly concerned about burnout they wouldn't take their teams on long far eastern tours pre-season, or would agree to reduce the number of teams in the league and, consequently, the number of fixtures.

Sure, if the score is level after extra time in a replay then a penalty shoot out makes sense, but not at the first time of asking. There haven't been many F.A. Cup final replays but that is no reason to stop them happening in the future.

Let's not forget the year that Manchester United were given a bye to the 4th round to enable them to play in the utterly futile World Club Championship.

For the last few years the F.A. Cup final has been a week before the end of the Premier League season. The F.A.'s logic was that wanted the Premier League to be the biggest trophy, the one that counted. Of course, in reality, the league has often been won and most issues done and dusted well before the final weekend, leaving dead rubbers and pointless fixtures as the grand climax to the season.

This season, not only are there Premier League fixtures tomorrow but there's one today - on the same day as the F.A. Cup final (though, admittedly, a few hours earlier). And if you support a League One or League Two side, and go to watch them play this afternoon, the chances are you won't be able to get to a television in time to see very much of the F.A. Cup final.

Then the F.A. decided that the semi-finals would be held at Wembley. It started back in the '90s when Arsenal drew Spurs in the semi-final but is now, apparently, the norm. It should ONLY be the final that's held at Wembley. That's what makes it special. If the semi-finals are held there, why not the quarter finals too? Why not selected matches from the third round?

This year, things were worse because one semi-final was Liverpool vs. Everton. So all the fans travelled down from Merseyside to London (around 225 miles) instead of the match being hosted at the neutral ground of, say, Old Trafford (just 34 miles away). It was an imbecilic decision that brought the game into disrepute and, of course, created a mammoth carbon footprint.

I don't think the years that the F.A. Cup final took place in Cardiff, at the Millennium Stadium (while the new Wembley was built) helped much either. Yes, the Millennium Stadium is a tremendous stadium, fans seemed to like it, but in FIFA and UEFA terms, it is in a foreign country. They may as well have held it at Hampden, or Stade de France, or at the Yankee Stadium in New York!

Playing the F.A. Cup out of the F.A.'s domain took away some of its significance. It dulled the silverware and made lifting the trophy less important.

This year, the F.A., in it's infinite wisdom, has bowed to pressure from television broadcasters and moved the F.A. Cup final from its tradition 3 o'clock k kick off to a 5.15 kick off. 5.15?! WTF?! This is simply nonsensical. Rarely do I find mysf agreeing with Akex Ferguson, but he has spoken out about this saying that the oldest cup competition in the world (it started in 1871) should be saved from the whims and fancies if television schedulers. As far as I am concerned this, alone, is a good enough reason to stop ITV having the broadcasting rights to the F.A. Cup ever again.

This year Chelsea play Liverpool in the final and then, on Tuesday, they'll play each other again in the Premier League totally belittling the final and making a mockery of footballing history.

Teams, of course, have increasingly taken the F.A. Cup less seriously too. It's not worth as much financially, as achieving a higher league position due to the way television money is paid out, and so "squad rotation" has meant several top sides, serious contenders for the trophy, have fielded heavily weakened sides in early rounds. Thankfully, the situation hasn't got as bad as the League Cup whi h is now a discredited and Mickey Mouse trophy. It is time that the League Cup was scrapped or, at the very least, the European place given to its winners was removed.

The F.A. Cup should be the F.A.'s crowning glory. It helped to bring football to the world, but, I suggest, it is no longer safe to be left in the hands of the F.A. Something needs to be done to rejuvenate this great, world-famous trophy and put it back at it's rightful place as the climax of the football season.

Friday 4 May 2012

OPINION: Labour lost London the day they chose Ken

There are some in the Labour Party who, as soon as London Mayor is mentioned, cannot see beyond Ken Livingstone. Yes, when the post was created, back in the heady days when Tony Blair was still a popular Prime Minister and hadn't yet become a deluded, war mongeting, religious bigot, Ken probably was the obvious choice to run for Mayor. After all, he had run the old GLC, until Thatcher pulled the plug. But times change, and so has Ken.

Neil Kinnock, Ken Livingstone and a newt. Write your own amusing caption...

In recent years, Ken has gradually become totally unelectable.

The blatant avoidance/evasion of paying sufficient tax was just the icing on the cake of a series of revelations of the real Ken Livingstone: sexist, racist, anti-Semitic. And let's not forget the occasions he's chosen to thump someone. He's a thoroughly objectionable human being and the Labour leadership should have had the guts to select someone else to oppose Boris Johnson - there were plenty of candidates who would probably have done better - the obvious, and popular, choice, and one currently looking for a new role, would have been Oona King but, no, Labour went with Ken.

Mind you, I think just about anyone would do a better job than Ken Livingstone - a faulty lamp post on Westminster Bridge would probably make a better and less controversial mayor than Ken Livingstone. It would certainly be less offensive.

How can a man with dodgy personal finances and both questionable and unpleasant views on race and sexual equality be mayor of one of the world's great cities, and, arguably, become the second most important politician in the UK?

In many ways I'm astonished he got as many votes as he did, but then there are a scary number who vote for a party without looking at the candidate.


Hopefully this latest defeat has brought Ken Livingstone political aspirations to an end. He can go off and syphon his earnings through a company to avoid/evade paying sufficient tax, and he can spend more time bothering his newts (poor newts).

Good riddance to a bad penny. He was a man for his moment - but his moment should have ended twenty or more years ago.

Labour lost London the day they chose Ken as their candidate. They knew what he was like, but still they selected him. Suicidal? Maybe. Moronic? Certainly.

It's now time for Labour to reflect on why they, supposedly a party of equality, based on socialist principles, selected a money grabbing, selfish, egotistical bigot as their choice for London mayor, and they must also look at who chose him.

This man got more votes than a Lib Dem candidate...

Professor Pongoo...


Here's the one on the left, btw

366/125 - Clipstone Colliery

Click here for today's mining linked Project 366.

Ed Miliband hit by an egg

Argentina's Olympics Ad filmed on Falkland Islands

OPINION: Low turn outs at elections

Yet again the British public has shown apathy at a set of elections with a turnout of only about 31% at yesterday's local and mayoral elections.


Across the world people risk their lives for the right to have a say in how their countries are run, and here, in the UK, there's been two world wars and the suffragette moving fighting for, and protecting, our democratic freedoms, and yet a majority of people just don't care.

Sure, the MPs' expenses scandal dented public confidence in politicians, but turnouts were low before that.

So why don't people vote?

They seem to think all politicians are the same, and that many are there to line their own pockets, they don't believe their vote will make a difference and they simply don't care about politics, preferring, instead, to vote on the X Factor or Britain's Got Talent.

There is certainly a problem with the major parties slowly morphing into one. All three now offer a variation of a centre right politics and the continual bickering between the parties seems to be arguing for the sake of it, rather than on principle. As I blogged the other day, party politics is bad for democracy.

There are those who argue that the first past the post election system is at fault. Too many seats are foregone conclusions and so most votes are irrelevant unless you live in one of about 50 marginal seats. They want to replace it with AV (rejected by the electorate in a referendum last year) or PR (which has lead to massive unstable governments in Italy since the Second World War.

There are, of course, some who want to introduce more postal votes or voting by text or online. All of these ideas need to be looked at, and if they can be introduced without making electoral fraud easier, I see no reason why more variety of voting methods can't be used - but I doubt this is the big solution.

I think another issue is that there are too many career politicians who have no experience of the real world outside of Westminster. Maybe there should be a minimum age for MPs?

I like first past the post; the winner is the winner. The elected MP has a clear local link maintained and there is no nonsense of the person coming third or fourth on the first round of balloting ending up winning. First past the post is simple, understandable and democratic.

So what should be done?

There probably aren't any quick fixes. We need more openness and honesty in politics. We need the electorate to believe that MPs are in parliament to work for a better society and not merely there like pigs at the trough. We need a true rainbow of politics with genuine alternatives to centre right capitalism. And, I think, we need to make voting compulsory.

Yes, it should be a legal requirement to vote. This would mean that there has to be an option for "No Suitable Candidate" or "Re-open Nominations" so that people aren't forced to vote for parties that they disagree with but, if we want a genuinely vibrant and democratic politics that is the change that is necessary.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi sworn in

Cissé's amazing goal

Cissé's amazing goal that keeps Newcastle in the hunt for a Champions' League place:

Party politics is bad for democracy

I've been opposed to party politics for a long time. It leads to the nonsense of having party whips and politicians voting in parliament for a party line rather than on principle.


Yesterday's report from the Culture, Media & Sport select committee about the Murdochs and phone hacking perfectly shows why party politics is wrong. Many of the things the committee voted on were decided by a party split and had the membership of the committee been made up of a different set of MPs the reports findings could have been totally different. It seems some if those on the committee didn't listen to any of the evidence and had pre-judged the result they wanted.

I don't believe that anybody, including the whips and the party leaders, believe in every single policy that appears in a party's election manifesto, and yet they go ahead and vote the way they're told so that they can climb the greasy career pole and be considered for q cabinet, or shadow cabinet, post the next time there's a reshuffle.

Party politics isn't about doing what's right for the electorate, it's about doing what's right for your own bank balance. It's time that politics was taken back by the electorate and made more accountable, and it's time that we put back principle into politics.

Why not allow all MPs to vote for themselves? To stand on their personal strengths, beliefs and principles? Why not make politics more democratic?

Look at the nonsense in the USA, with sub-parties like the lunatic fringe called The Tea Party within the Republican Party. Parties within parties shows that democracy has failed in its current form.


I know she won't win the London mayorship tomorrow, after all election law was against her, but I do hope that Siobhan Benita does well. It would be great if she picked up a sizeable vote and maybe, just maybe, it could be the start of a bloodless revolution that changed the future of politics in this country.

30th anniversary of the sinking of the Belgrano

30 years ago today the Royal Navy sank the Argentinian ship, the General Belgrano.

It was all part of the Falklands conflict that had begun a month earlier when the Argentinians had invaded and taken over both the Falklands Islands, which they call the Malvinas islands, and South Georgia.


As part of their campaign to recapture the islands, the British government had announced a 200-mile exclusion zone, but, when HMS Conqueror, a nuclear powered submarine, launched 3 torpedoes at the Belgrano it was outside of that exclusion zone, in international waters, and sailing away from the islands and the British Task Force that had been amassed in the South Atlantic over the previous weeks.


The General Belgrano posed absolutely no threat to Royal Navy ships and had every right to be where it was, and yet, on the orders of Margaret Thatcher, the UK Prime Minister, it was sunk, killing 368 men.



Today, in a tasteless events and a reunion, British veterans of the conflict celebrated this massacre and justified this dreadful attack.

Why, instead, were they not arrested for war crimes? And why has Margaret Thatcher never had her day in court at the Hague to account for the cold-blooded murder of so many men?

Thatcher did many things during her premiership that people find distasteful, for the sinking of the Belgrano she should have spent her later years in prison.

366/123 - Beeston Lock

Into the second third of my Project 366.

Click here for today's photo, music and word.

"Dopo il trapano" for solo piano

Someone I follow on Twitter (@lizipatch) went to the dentist today and asked if I had some soothing music for after.

This is what I came up with.



"Dopo il trapano" translates as "After the drill".

If you'd like the sheet music send me a message!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Murdoch says sorry

Rupert Murdoch has issued a statement to News Corp staff in the wake of the CMS select committee's report into phone hacking.


Here's a transcript:


Dear Colleagues

Today, the UK's Parliamentary select committee on culture, media and sport released its full report on issues surrounding phone hacking at the News of the World.

The report affords us a unique opportunity to reflect upon the mistakes we have made and further the course we have already completed to correct them.

I recognise that for all of us – myself in particular – it is difficult to read many of the report's findings. But we have done the most difficult part, which has been to take a long, hard and honest look at our past mistakes.

There is no easy way around this, but I am proud to say that we have been working hard to put things right.

We certainly should have acted more quickly and aggressively to uncover wrongdoing. We deeply regret what took place and have taken our share of responsibility for not rectifying the situation sooner.

To that end, News Corporation continues to co-operate with all inquiries relating to voicemail interception and improper payments to public officials. Indeed, we have gone beyond what law enforcement authorities have asked of us, to ensure not only that we are in compliance with the law, but that we adhere to the highest ethical standards.

I would also like to inform you today that the autonomous management and standards committee, which was established by the company to ensure full co-operation with all investigations, has completed its review of the Times and the Sunday Times, assisted by outside counsel, Linklaters. We found no evidence of illegal conduct other than a single incident reported months ago, which led to the discipline of the relevant employee.

Further, the management and standards committee has also completed its internal review into the Sun.

News International, at the instigation of James, instituted important governance reforms.

In addition, under the guidance of Gerson Zweifach, News Corporation's group general counsel, the company is implementing a more robust global compliance structure, with expanded education, customised controls, and group compliance officers across our businesses.

Today's report comes at a time when our business has never been stronger and we continue to demonstrate strong operational excellence focused on returning maximum value to all of our stockholders.

It is a testament to the integrity and strength of you, our more than 50,000 colleagues around the world, that we could experience such exceptional performance even in the midst of unprecedented public scrutiny. I have also never been more encouraged by your dedication and steadfast commitment to our future.

The opportunity to emerge from this difficult period a stronger, better company has never been greater and I will look to each of you to help me ensure that News Corporation's next 60 years are more vital and successful than ever.


Doesn't it make your heart bleed for him? NOT!

Piano music

Here are a selection of piano pieces I've written over the past year.









366/122 - Light

Click here for today's light themed Project 366.

The Lord's Prayer - baritone & vibraphone

This is a demo version of a setting of The Lord's Prayer for baritone voice and vibraphone that I wrote for a friend of mine.

On this recording the voice part is played on a cor anglais (english horn).



If you'd like a copy of the music do message me.

"The only good Kraut is a dead Kraut"

These days Patrick Moore may qualify as a national treasure, but when he expresses views like "The only good Kraut is a dead Kraut" he deserves to be taken to task.


Patrick Moore is 89, and many would describe him as a great English eccentric, he is certainly an eminent astronomer, but his anti-German views, given in an interview to the Radio Times to mark the 55th anniversary of The Sky at Night, are those of a mad man.

Moore's fiance was killed by a German bomb during World War Two and, as a result, he still holds the whole German nation in contempt. He says that the rest of Europe shouldn't turn their back on the Germans because, given half a chance, they'll try to take over the world again.

It is right that the Radio Times celebrate The Sky at Night's anniversary - it is, undeniably, a great achievement - but should they be giving publicity to such horrendous views? In a previous interview for the same publication he claimed the BBC was being held back because of the number of women in the corporation!



Surely, it's not possible to blame an entire nation for actions that took place 70 years ago? I', surprised that such outspoken comments aren't considered as incitement to anti-German actions - aren't there laws he has broken?

If not, then I'd suggest there must be a mental institution that has a room waiting for him.