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Claude Chabrol and Jean Luc Godard

For me, the two directors that are truly Masters of Suspense are Claude Chabrol and Alfred Hitchcock. Chabrol, from the New Wave of the 1950s, was avowedly French whilst Hitchcock, a master of British realism, studied under Fritz Lang at the UFA studio, Britain and Hollywood. Yesterday I watched [...]

September 15, 2022 // 0 Comments

Ken Howard (1932-2022)

I was more than saddened to hear my old friend Ken Howard has passed away. A brilliant painter of light with an ebullient personality, Ken was the son of a Kilburn carpenter. He got his breakthrough as an artist covering ‘The Troubles’, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, though not [...]

September 13, 2022 // 0 Comments

Act of Oblivion/Robert Harris

Critics have hailed Robert Harris’ latest novel as his best since Fatherland.   It’s historical fiction. Charles II, on being restored to the throne, issued a blanket pardon to all who fought for Parliament except those responsible for his father’s death known as the Regicides. Two such [...]

September 13, 2022 // 0 Comments

An absorbing day at the Oval

Yesterday I travelled up from the coast to watch an always thrilling day’s play in which England batted twice and set up victory. I confess I had my doubts about Ben Stokes as captain: a brilliant cricketer indubitably, but not a shrewd enough tactician and probably another Freddie Flintoff or [...]

September 12, 2022 // 0 Comments

Newcastle Falcons 31 Harlequins 40

Quins had some stellar absentees for the start of the Premiership – Danny Care, Marcus Smith, Andre Esterhuizen – and young lock Hugh Tizzard has moved to Saracens. We only saw glimpses of vintage Champagne Quins: 2 penalties that they elected to run rather than convert, a cross-field [...]

September 11, 2022 // 0 Comments

Sense and Sensibility (1995)/director Ang Lee

My comment that Jane Austen is better enjoyed by film than book were tested by this 1995 film directed by the esteemed Korean director Ang  Lee. It had a strong cast of Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Spriggs, Robert Hardy, Harriet Walter, Tom Wilkinson, Alan [...]

September 9, 2022 // 0 Comments

Fitness campaign report

A while back now – to be honest as I type I can’t remember exactly when – during a WhatsApp chat with my 39 year old daughter, of all things I had cause to mention that I had just amassed forty days’ worth of consecutive “10,000 steps per day” (a “standard” that many fitness gurus [...]

September 9, 2022 // 0 Comments

In a Lonely Place

Normally I watch a film from my extensive library, rent it via Amazon, or watch one on Netflix more designed for the young viewer. Occasionally I am drawn by a film on television on one of the movie channels and this occasion was last week’s In a Lonely Place. I was influenced by a strong cast of [...]

September 7, 2022 // 0 Comments

Transgender issues and common sense

I’m all for freedom of choice  – within reason, of course, not least provided that this doesn’t involve harm to others and taking into account the primacy of the principle that the pursuit of the greatest good for the greatest number is generally a “good thing” by [...]

September 7, 2022 // 0 Comments

The travails of my printer and modern consumerism

Although frustration in the digital age is a common topic on the Rust, here I will put it in the context of modern consumerism. It’s all to do with my Canon Printer which about a month ago only copied and printed in blank. At first I thought the cartridges needed replacement. First point: [...]

September 6, 2022 // 0 Comments

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