Tag Archive: Tina Turner


MORRISSEY IN HIS ELEMENT

Filed under: Italy, Music — Leave a comment
October 10, 2015

MORRISSEY – Live at Carisport, Cesena 8th October 2015

In my last post I was scathing about Morrissey’s debut novel, List Of The Lost, but I’m happy to report that his ‘day job’ as singer and musical icon is still in rude shape.

For this show in Cesena, the second of just two dates in Italy, he was in fine voice and treated an adoring public to a supremely polished show dominated by material from his excellent new album World Peace Is None Of Your Business.

It would have been all too easy for him to go through the motions and run through Smiths classics. Probably a fair proportion of the audience would have actually preferred this but I’d much rather see an artist performing songs that reflect where he is now than who he was then.

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SEX WITH THE WEDNESDAY MAN

Filed under: Books, Fiction, Gender, Movies, Music, Television, Theatre — 1 Comment
August 24, 2015

INTIMACY directed by Patrice Chéreau (UK, 2001)

intimacy-POSTERSex in movies or music videos is mostly more concerned with titillation than realism while in porn its primary function is stimulation.

The makers of Intimacy, based on a short story by Hanif Kureishi, adopt a less glossy and therefore more adult perspective.

In the movie, scenes of coupling are explicit, including un-simulated fellatio. Little is left to the imagination but, equally, nothing is particularly arousing.

On the contrary, the sex act is reduced to the level of a basic human need (like eating and sleeping but more energetic).

This is fucking not lovemaking and seems more akin to an act of penance than passion. Once the desire is satiated, words are unnecessary and the two go their separate ways arranging only to meet again the same day (Wednesday) the next week. Continue reading →

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STEVE JOBS – “Death is life’s best invention”

Filed under: Music — 1 Comment
October 7, 2011

The anticipated but still deeply sad news of Steve Jobs’ death at the age of just 56 robs the world of one of the great innovators. To die at such a relatively early age either proves that God doesn’t exist or signifies that heaven now has wi-fi and is in urgent need of his technological know-how and design skills.

“We don’t need another hero” sang Tina Turner inaccurately in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The truth is that in these dark times we need all the heroes we can get. Steve Jobs was one of this rare breed. Like those other Apple scruffs (aka The Beatles) he had the courage to think differently and , like the Fab Four, he changed the way we see, feel and hear the world.

“Death is life’s best invention” he said in his Stanford commencement speech in 2005. He explained this by adding: “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important”.

His message in this speech , and  the example of  how he lived his life, was to assert that your gut instincts and curiosity should be nurtured so that you don’t get stuck in the safety first mode – “keep looking , don’t settle” , he urged the Stanford graduates.

He believed that life is a process of connecting the dots backwards: “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart”. Continue reading →

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