"So Bohemian like you...."

After having watched Russell wander his merry way through the MTV Music Video Awards, I thought I'd put this up. He's not to everyone's taste but...he makes me laugh. Good on 'ya son...keep those Yanks in line.

By the way, I must add my voice to those who've called Kanye West a dick! Firstly, it's just an award...get over it! Secondly, way to go picking on children! Thirdly, no one gives a damn what you think, YA MUPPET!!

Excelsior out!!

"Welcome to the Black & White Parade..."

When I was a young boy, my Father took me into the city to see a marching band.
He said "Son when you grow up will you be
the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?"
He said "Will you defeat them, your demons and all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?
Because one day I'll leave you a phantom to lead you in the summer,
in the Black & White parade."

When I was a young boy, my Father took me into the city to see a marching band.
He said "Son when you grow up will you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?"
Sometimes I get the feeling he's watching over me. And other times I feel like I should go.
When through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies' in the streets, and now you're gone we want you all to know.

We'll Carry on, We'll Carry on, and though you said you dont believe me, your memory will carry on, we'll carry on, and though my heart cannot contain it, the anthem wont explain it.

This world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams. It's misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back, lets shout it loud and clear. Do you fight it to the end?, we hear the call to carry on. We'll carry on, and though your dead and gone believe me; your memory will carry on. We'll carry on and though you're broken and defeated,your weary widow marches...on and on we carry through the fears. Disappointed faces of your peers.Take a look at me,'cause I could not care at all--- Do or die you'll never make me. 

Because the world,will never take my heart. You can try, you'll never break me. You want it all, you wanna play this part. I won't explain, or say I'm sorry. Im not ashamed, I'm gonna show my scar's.
Let's hear a cheer, for all the broken. Listen here, because it's me too! I'm just a man, I'm not a hero. Just a man, who means to sing this song. Just a man, I'm not a hero. I - don't! - care!.
We'll carry on. We'll carry on, and though your dead and gone believe me your memory will
carry on. We'll carry on, and though you're broken and defeated, your weary widow marches on!---Do or die, you'll never make me, because the world, will never take my heart.

And though you try, you'll never break me. You want it all,(We'll carry on---) you wanna play this part. Do or die, ,(We'll carry on---) you'll never make me, because the world,(We'll carry on---) will never take my heart. You can try, you'll never break me.,(We'll carry ....) You want it all,(We'll carry on------) you wanna play this part."

A hero has left us, a phantom in the Summer....it is our duty to follow his heroic example, now and forever!

Excelsior Out! SO63! Amen!

Great Britons V.S. Grate Britons

Here's the first in a series of caricatures entitled "Great Britons v.s. Grate Britons". People I like versus people I would cheerfully strangle. 

Leaving out the obvious targets for a moment....Mike Ashley, you know where you stand with me; first up is Pete "BabyShambles" Doherty...a true waste of skin if ever there was one. His music is a mystery as it never charts anywhere; but his scuzzy mug makes regular visits to the "Red Tops". 

He's quietened down since Kate Moss, wisely got rid...but just knowing he's out there...festering; fills me with revulsion.

All views expressed here are arbitrary, personal and not necessarily right...but then it is my site!!

Excelsior out!  

Sir Robert William Robson. R.I.P.

The great man is gone, and a light in the world has been extinguished. The coming days will be filled with plaudits and tributes, from all corners of the world...I'd like to add mine. 

He managed our club as he lived his life; with grace, dignity and integrity. Had he not been so rudely dismissed, we would certainly not be in the position we are in now. Recriminations be damned...a hero has left us in the Summer and we shall not see his like again. He has passed into legend and, as such, is beyond whatever agony he was in. 

My thoughts are with his loved ones; life without such a beloved man must seem unbearable...but time will sooth the pain, as only time can.

He is among the immortals now and, as my picture says:"The secret of immortality is to, first, have a life worth remembering. We are the one's who will ALWAYS remember and find nothing but JOY in the memory. Amen." 

Excelsior Out.

A Rake's Progress.

Peter O'Toole has long been a favourite actor of mine. His classic delivery and leonine energy infuse every role he plays with a unique signature. At Oscar time he's the perennial bridesmaid; he holds the record for most nominations (8) without a win. In 2003 he received an "Honourary" Oscar but had to be cajoled into accepting it.

He's a man's man, hard drinking, two-fisted and outspoken...the sort of "Hollywood Star" that Hollywood stopped making years ago. Next to the current crop of bloodless clones that make up today's leading "Men", he is a God. He stands like an oak tree in a garden of weeds, towering above all in the movie firmament.

I met him in 1992, at a charity cricket match, and gushed like some pathetic fanboy. He was gracious, impressive and charismatic; in those few minutes he confirmed every wonderful thing I'd ever thought about him. 

Over the years his performances have been celebrated far and wide; here I want to highlight some of his lesser known turns! "Murphy's War" (1971) Fantastic WW2 story of Irishman Murphy (O'Toole), sole survivour of a merchant ship sunk by a German U-Boat. After being nursed back to health by the local settlement's Quaker doctor (and discovering the U-Boat is moored secretly nearby) he set's about plotting his revenge. A splendidly energetic O'Toole gives an authentic stench of madness to his portrayal of a man in search of redemption. 

1980 brought us "The Stunt Man", a complex, unclassifiable movie within a movie. It saw O'Toole, in imperious form, as manic film director Eli Cross harbouring a young Vietnam vet on the run from the law. Cross takes the boy into his crew and slowly, but surely, the line between reality and Hollywood make-believe begins to disappear. Again the great man is wildly charismatic, riveting and monstrous to a fault. 

Finally, my favourite O'Toole, is "My Favourite Year". His weary, melancholic rake Alan Swann, is his finest hour. He ellicits wonder, contempt, sympathy and love at every turn. The 50's setting makes the movie all the warmer as young TV comedy writer Benjy Stone (a brilliant Mark Linn Baker), tries (unsuccessfully) to keep Swann sober for his live TV appearance on "The King Kaiser Show". O'Toole's own mythology plays directly into this character so much that by the time his confession, at not having seen his daughter in years, comes around we feel the pain of his shame as genuine.

A great actor, a flawed man...a living legend. Celebrate him while you can.

Excelsior out! 

"Hellooo! I say...Ding Dong girls!"

Just a flimsy excuse to post a shot of comedy GOD, Leslie Phillips. 

When I was a kid I thought he was the smoothest dude alive. Great at charming the ladies and always ready with a genius quip! 

Now I'm knocking on and he's STILL the smoothest dude alive...and still charming the ladies! Both inspirational role model and laugh out loud funny man! Splendid!

Excelsior Out!

"Say hello to my little friend..."

Al Pacino is his own creation! A pocket dynamo capable of quiet tenderness and explosive violence, sometimes within the same scene. After graduating from the Lee Strasberg run "Actors Studio", his first significant movie role was as a heroin addict in 1971's "Panic in Needle Park". 

This brought him to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola, who was searching for talent for a little movie called "The Godfather", the rest is history! Some of my favourite (less lauded) Pacino performances are: homosexual bank robber Sonny in "Dog Day Afternoon". His compelling portrait of man caught in the teeth of an impossible situation is faultless. 

His crusading, liberal lawyer Arthur Kirkland in "And justice for all" is another beautifully drawn character. Beset on all sides by turmoil, Kirkland bounces between humour and tragedy like a manic superball; the final courtroom scene is a "Pacino-Hurricane". 

Finally, my favourite Pacino turn, John Milton AKA "The Devil" in "The Devil's Advocate". Something that could've been ridiculous in lesser hands, becomes a wild, tragi-comic tour-de-force with Pacino's spectacular energy holding it all together. Breathtaking! All together now...."HOO-HAA!". 

Excelsior out!