Five on the fifth #14

x

Welcome to 5 on the fifth, a monthly posting that benefits from audience participation. You take 5 photographs on the 5th of the month (or the days leading up to the 5th) - post a comment here with your name, location and link to the site containing your photos and I will update the blog entry with your information. Remember to mention my blog on your own blog, so that your visitors get to see the other contributions. You can take 5 random pictures or follow my suggested theme - this month it is: "On The Road".

You can join the 5 on the fifth Facebook page here.

My own pictures are below the links of those who kindly contributed:

Made in Scotland, London
My Time, Dublin
WannabeVirginia W., Ontario
Mrs Urs, Zurich
Dogboy
David, Brighton
Andrew, Bristol
Pete, Our house
Bryn, London
Torchy, Somewhere in the south
James, London


All of my pictures were taken on a couple of very poor mobile phones mainly on the side of the road over the past 2 days.

August Movie Update

Here are the films that Pete and I have received from Lovefilm.com and watched on TV and DVD over the past month or so, in reverse order, with my ratings out of ten from my movie list on IMDB.


And When Did You Last See Your Father? 7

A very interesting film starring Colin Firth and a young actor called Matthew Beard who I thought was excellent throughout.  I hope he gets some luck with his career.

Remember Me 5

"R Pats" in a cliche ridden film.

Alice in Wonderland 7

Clever effects and interesting ideas, but a dull film really.

Up in the Air 7

George Clooney as a man who lives his life travelling a working without achieving anything in his personal life.  Better than it sounds.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss 8

Father of My Children 6

Sherlock Holmes 7

Far better than I thought it would be.  Quite a good romp, apart from the final big scene that puts the Houses Of Parliament next to Tower Bridge.

Radio Days 7

A good Woody Allen film! (though it's quite old)

An Education 6

Where the Wild Things Are 6

Really weird and some great effects, but lost it's way too often.

Nowhere Boy 6

The script isn't great, acting suspect at times and Aaron Johnson who played John Lennon looked much older than the other actors even though they were meant to be the same age.

August

It's almost time for the next "5 on the fifth".  As usual, everyone is welcome to take part. You can either take 5 random pictures of anything that happens to you on the 5th of August (or the days leading up to it) or perhaps go for my suggested theme. This month, the theme is On The Road.

I hope that you will be inspired take part.  Don't forget to add a comment on my blog on the 5th with your name, location and link where the pictures can be found. Remember to mention my blog on your own blog so that your visitors get to see the other contributions.


You can join the 5 on the fifth Facebook page here.

Ha, Ha, Shock, Wow #7

Following on from these previous postings, here are four more random items from the 'net for your pleasure and entertainment...

HA

HA

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather.

Not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus.

SHOCK

'Jedi' is an official religion, with over 70,000 followers, in Australia. 

WOW

England Cricketer Simon Jones

Reincarnation

This is a poem read at Rhythms Of The World at the weekend, by a crazy old couple from the southern states.  It made me laugh (and the others in the audience).

It's by Wallace McRae...

"What does reincarnation mean?" a cowpoke asked his friend.


His pal replied, "It happens when yer life has reached it's end.


They comb yer hair and wash yer neck and clean yer fingernails,

And lay you in a padded box away from life's travails.

The box and you goes in a hole, that's been dug into the ground.

Reincarnation starts in when you're planted 'neath the mound.


Them clods melt down, just like your box and you who is inside,

And then you're just beginnin' on yer tranformation ride.

In a while the grass will grow upon yer rendered mound.

Till some day on yer rendered grave a lonely flower is found.


And say a horse should wander by and gaze upon that flower


That once was you, but now's become yer vegetated bower.

The posey that the horse ate up, with his other feed,

Makes bone and fat and muscle, essential to the steed.


But some is left that he can't use and so it passes through,

And finally lays upon the ground, this thing that once was you.

Then say by chance, I wanders by and sees this on the ground

And I ponders and wonders at this object that I found.

I thinks of reincarnation of life, and death, and such

And comes away concluding: Slim, you ain't changed, all that much."

Underground art at home

In our living room we have 3 wooden square frames with space for images around 18cm square.  My plan was to change the artwork on a regular basis, but have been a bit lax lately.  However, for the latest art show, I have taken an iconic image and amended it slightly to produced 3 new art forms.  I expect the copyright police to come-a-calling.

Many of you will know the Underground map, but without the place names and the Thames, can you spot the locations?

Rythyms 2010

Pete and I spent most of the last two days at the Rhythms Of The World festival in Hitchin.  It was a brilliant and tiring weekend!  The festival features dozens of artists from around the world and across the UK.  We witnessed some wonderful performances and I am sure we missed lots of good ones too as there was so much going on across the 6 stages.

As the weather was so nice, it brought out the fit lads (some very very fit) with their tops off.  Nice!  Last year saw 26,000 attend over the 2 days and I hope the same have turned out this year.  The people that come along are from every part of the community:  the rich, the poor, the kids, the oldies, the weirdos, etc.

Seeing some artists makes me regret not taking any musical instrument seriously.  Might treat myself to a banjo and a bongo.

Something that occurred to me today as was eyeing some really beautiful guys... good looking people flock together. Anyway, here are some pictures I took today.   By the way, last year's event was the start of 5 on the fifth.

1.  Weirdos
2.  Cute guy from The Bay Brothers
3.  Random teen dancing
4.  Random topless guy
5.  The Bay Brothers (anyone else think the one on the left is really cute but needs to lose the stupid long hair?)

A challenge

This is an in-joke in our house but I have decided to share it with you and turn it into a bit of a challenge.  This is for UK readers only... sorry.

When Pete and I go into any charity shop (as it's important to support them) looking at the books, DVDs and CDs, we often see the same CD for sale. The album in question is "K" by Kula Shaker.  I therefore challenge you to go into 3 charity shops in your town and I am confident that you will find the CD in one of them.  It really works!

Spooky.

Gay Corrie

Years ago I used to watch the Soaps, but for a decade or more I've had no interest.  I watch Eastenders perhaps twice a year and never see the awful Hollyoaks (where the kids seem to have lots of money but will die before they leave college).  The longest running of the Soaps is Coronation Street of course - the little street where everyone goes to the pub for lunch every day and every evening and then complain that they have no money.

It was the last of the Soaps to introduce a gay character and the odd time I've seen him, I have cringed at how embarrassing the character is and been annoyed at how little thought the Coronation Street producers have invested into a quality gay storyline.

Actor Anthony Cotton plays Sean Tully and it surprised me that a gay man playing a gay man is happy to act the part of the worst stereotype I've seen on TV.  It seems that the writers referred to the TV from the 1970's for their inspiration.

The character is overtly camp, which helps to make him a letter less threatening for the viewing public I suppose.  He rarely makes a comment about men or gay lifestyle, you don't see a serious long term relationship develop (like others on The Street), by far the majority of his friends are women and he works on a sewing machine in a clothing factory!  The writers of Soaps are often a little lazy with storylines, but at least you can appreciate the care they take when building a character.  In this case, I see nothing but corner cutting and the need to use stereotypes to avoid having to do some serious thinking.  It's strange, because the Todd gay storyline from a few years back was imaginative and had real drama... without the camp overtones.

There are gay men around who are camp, but none who seem to exhibit all of the worst stereotypes the Corrie individual has.  This situation does nothing to help people see gay men and women as just everyday people.

Even gay Eastenders actor John Partridge has said that he doesn't want to come across as a stereotype and although there will be aspects of that I'm sure, it's refreshing to hear his opinion.
 
I miss the shock and eventual admiration that Queer Of Folk invoked all those years ago.  Maybe I'm just showing my age now.  Having said all this, John Inman in All You Being Served was so over the top, that it was funny!

A weird coincidence

For those that read the blog entry I posted on Sunday, you will recall that I mentioned that Pete and I went out on Saturday night and met a guy called Tom.  I do remember that he mentioned that he comes from near where I grew up in Kent but we didn't talk too much about work.

Well... my brother has been in touch to say a guy also called Tom, who is doing some decorating work for him, asked him yesterday if he had a brother living in Hertfordshire.  They pieced it together and found that by pure coincidence, I had been drinking with him on Saturday night!

Tom had figured that I looked just like my brother, but just without the thick black hair.

It's a weird small world sometimes.