Diary Entry Number 1

When you belong to so many online forums, blog sites and social networking sites, it is sometimes difficult to keep up with it all because you don't want to have to keep writing the same things several times over. Therefore you find that things like blog sites get left by the wayside. I am going to try and address this situation by putting the more mundane elements of my life in this blog. Day 1.

Here I am sitting on my own in my living room because I'm in too much pain to do anything. The pain is in my shoulders my arms my legs and my back. I am actually lying on a bean bag on the floor in my living room. I am using my phone to write this blog because it has a speech recognition function which means I can speak the text and I don't have to write it. My hands tremble too much for me to write a text on the phone.

Those of you who are used to my perfect grammar might be slightly disappointed to see some grammatical errors on this blog. I apologize in advance for this and can only put it down to errors in the speech recognition, as well as my own inability to understand how things work on this phone.  For example, I have no idea how to make this phone do a full stop. Every time I say the word full stop it writes it in full instead of putting a full stop. So I have to stop writing and put 1 in. I also have to correct things where the speech recognition device gets it wrong and I may miss some things. Once again, I can only apologize for this.

As I said before, it is not very likely that I'm going to get much done today. Some days, the cocktail of painkillers that I take just don't seem to work. I sit here trying to read but the pain prevents me from holding a book properly. Some days I could just weep. I just wanted to tell you that. Otherwise not much else is happening. So I will sign off for now and perhaps write some more later. X

TIntern Abbey

Yesterday my dear wife Jane and I visited Tintern Abbey, one of the first Cistercian monasteries ever established in Britain.  Today, it is known as one of the Great Monastic Ruins of Wales.  It is situated not far from the A466 and the A 48, south west of the Forest of Dean; frankly, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen within the United Kingdom (with the possible exception of the Highlands of Scotland).  It takes about 45 minutes to get there from our house in Drybrook, Gloucestershunt.

It was a gloriously sunny day yesterday, and I had promised my wife that we would go somewhere local, which would mean that the journey was short and therefore not too painful for my medical condition.  I drove, which is painful for my leg but better than the pain of going over an unexpected bump in the road - at least I have some control knowing when the bumps are about to hit.

Anyway, back to the Abbey.  According to Wikipedia, the Abbey was founded on 9 May 1131, by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow.  It is the inspiration of poetry by scribes as diverse as William Wordsworth, Alfred 'Lord' Tennyson, and Allen Ginsberg.  It is only the second Cistercian foundation in Great Britain, and the first in Wales, the first British one being from Waverley, Surrey, in 1128.  It is an extraordinarily beautiful place, but not a great deal of the original buildings remain.  Most of what we see today dates from the 14th Century, including the magnificent Abbey building that is the centrepiece of the present-day site.  Unfortunately Tintern, as did every other monastery in Great Britain, fell victim to Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, which began in 1536, in which all the monasteries were disbanded, their buildings and assets sold off, and an eventual whopping total of (in 2012 financial terms) almost £500 million was raised for government (and therefore the King's private) funds.

Nevertheless, Henry VIII could not destroy the building itself, which, although left to ruin, has lost none of its magnificent power.  The Cistertians could not have chosen a better site.  The surrounding forestry is beautiful, and the subsequent village is also a beautiful one.  The River Severn flows nearby, and Jane spent a wonderful 20 minutes or so sat on a wall just enjoying the sound of the river flowing behind her.  Next, we went for a tour of the building.  Oh, and the car park machines were not working (I suspect these machines date from a later period than the Cistercians), so we got free parking, and through my disability got free entry as well.  So all in all it cost us - nowt!

Upon entering the site, the first areas you pass through are the more 'domestic' ones.  These include the kitchens, the servery and the 'latrines.'  Few of the walls remain, but there is a lovely serving hatch still there which gives a vivid reminder that real people once lived here.  It is a favourite habit of mine, when going through historic sites of any kind, to imagine myself with those whose habitation this once was.  Actually being there at the time that the site was active, so to speak.  And it is usually little things like serving hatches that help to bring places like Tintern to life.  What was once the kitchen is now nothing more than a cement floor, all but the wall with the serving hatch are now gone.  Other non-religious parts of the Abbey include the monks' Dayroom, which still shows the bases of four stone pillars that apparently once supported a vault.

To the church itself.  Well, as a non-religious person, I can only say that it is one of the most beautiful ruined churches that I have ever seen.  Jane was concerned for the health and safety of those who had built it, given that the roof of the church would have been so high (there is nothing of the original church roof left). What is amazing is that a building such as this was ever left to ruin. Many of the building's original window frames are still in place, but not the glass.

I don't know what I'm doing...

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Simultaneous Blogging Baby!

Check this out, folks, I'm actually writing two blog posts at once!  I'm actually blogging here, at The Life of Meaning, and over at Word Press, where I'm equally disinterested in life, the Universe, and most things.  You see, when one has nothing better to do all day than sit and stare at the wall, these crazy ideas tend to pop into one's head.

Any road, up, I am spending this Sunday morning copying films from my Sky Plus Planner onto DVD.  Let those corporate pigs try and stop me!  BBC 2 seem to have struck some deal to buy up loads of films from the RKO Radio archive.  Last week we had the 1935 Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett, and on Saturday it was the turn of Fred Astaire in The Sky's the Limit (1943) and Cary Grant in Every Girl Should Be Married (1948).  They've all gone on DVD, thanks very much, Auntie.  Oh, and that's not to forget the season of Fred & Ginger movies the Beeb have been showing over the last 8 weeks - every last one from Flying Down to Rio  (1933) to The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939).  Of course, any film buff worth their salt will know that does not represent the entire body of work those two made together, because there is one more film, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) that the two made together over at MGM.  This film did not begin life as a Fred & Ginger vehicle; it was supposed to co-star Fred with Judy Garland, but the then Mrs. Minnelli was so addicted to prescription painkillers that she was not deemed fit enough by producer Arthur Freed to star in the film.  So, in came Ginger Rogers.  Incidentally, it wasn't the last time Judy Garland was kicked off a film - in 1950 she had filmed over half of Annie Get Your Gun before being fired.  Things had to be serious to get booted off a production - all studios panicked about costs, and to do that to a major star meant some serious shit was going down.  That same year her contract was torn up by the studio and she made just one more film in the next decade - A Star is Born in 1954 at Warner Bros.  But I digress.  The Barkleys of Broadway is not an RKO film but it does appear in my boxed set of Fred & Ginger movies - a great set that is too.

So, thank you, BBC2, for continuing to show these great films.

Speaking of digressing, that reminds me - a great-looking film is out in January - entitled The Artist, it is a brand new film from director Michel Hazanavicius about a silent movie actor's fears as the whole of Hollywood adapts to the coming of sound.  Movie buffs, especially those of the "Classic" film, will notice a certain similarity with the 1952 musical classic Singin' in the Rain, but here's where The Artist is different.  It is a 100%, bona fide silent film - possibly the first made during the sound era since Chaplin's Modern Times in 1936.  I say possibly because no-one can be 100% sure, and I'm sure that one of the many thousands of you will correct me if, as is quite likely, I am wrong.  And, if the buzz surrounding Oscar is to be believed, it could be the first film to win the coveted Best Picture Academy Award since Wings in 1928 to be completely devoid of dialogue and, indeed, sound effects - viz., to be silent.  I hope it wins

Well, blog-watchers, I'll stop for now because, as I mentioned, I'm actually writing two at once today.  I've no idea how to link to one blog whilst writing another.  All I can tell you is to go over to WordPress and look up stephenbutler.
x

It's Oscar Time!

Dear Blogwatchers:

So much for my promise to keep updating this blog on a more regular basis. Since I last wrote to you, so much has happened outside my window that I just had to sit there for hours on end and stare at it. Early in December, it snowed. Early in January, it went all foggy. How much more exciting could it possibly get than that?

Anyway, the announcement today of this year's Oscar nominations made me think of both of you, and I resolved to blog upon this subject for your edification.

First off, let me make it perfectly clear that the Oscars were never meant to get this big. The first ceremony, which took place in 1929 I believe, was a reasonably formal dinner in some hotel in Hollywood when, at some point during the evening, a few announcements were made giving the Tinseltown community's views on what the best films of the previous 'season' were. All the winners were known prior to the ceremony; there was no surprises, no gushing speeches, no red carpet and no E! Entertainment channels making 3-hour programmes on the nominees' dresses.

This year, there are 10, yes ten, nominees for Best Picture. The Academy's choices are now so stale and predictable that you can practically name them all the day after the previous year's awards.

For the record, here are my predictions for the year's winners in the major categories. Bear in mind that there cannot be a 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' style clean sweep of the major awards this year:

BEST PICTURE The King's Speech

BEST DIRECTOR Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)

BEST ACTOR Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

BEST ACTRESS Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale (The Fighter)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

BEST SCREENPLAY (Orig.) David Seidler (The King's Speech)

BEST SCREENPLAY (Adap.) Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

BEST MUSICAL SCORE Alexander Desplat (The King's Speech)

BEST SONG Randy Newman ('We Belong Together' Toy Story 3)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Alice in Wonderland

BEST ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland

BEST COSTUME DESIGN The King's Speech

BEST FILM EDITING Black Swan

BEST MAKEUP The Wolfman [only 3 nominees???]

BEST SOUND EDITING Tron: Legacy

BEST SOUND MIXING Inception

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Toy Story 3

So there we have it. Even I can't take this as gospel though; if Jeff Bridges wins, he will become only the third actor in human history, after Spencer Tracy & Tom Hanks, to win Best Actor two years in a row, so that in itself makes it unlikely, no matter how good he is. And Bridges always delivers. Speaking of True Grit, one must also consider the merits of a remake gaining so many major nominations. It begs the question...why? Academy voters, I can assure you (because I know one or two of them) will be reluctant to go for Bridges since John Wayne won his only Best Actor award for the original film. Wayne's Oscar was seen very much as a sympathy one, after years of far superior performances failed to gain even a single nomination. The same accusation cannot be levelled at Bridges, since, as I have mentioned already, he already has one statue on his mantlepiece, for last year's Crazy Heart.

According to my predictions, The King's Speech will win 6 Oscars, Black Swan will win 3. Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland will win 2 each, with one each for Tron: Legacy, True Grit, The Social Network, The Fighter and Inception.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I fear Danny Boyle will walk away empty-handed this year, as will the makers of Winter's Bone, and The Kids Are All Right. Despite the predictability of the nominations, some categories are still a complete mystery: why, for example, only three nominees each for Best Makeup and Best Animated Film. Certainly in the latter category, there has been such an enormous deluge of CGI 'animated' films in 3-D that I could come up with more than three nominations without even thinking. Where, for example, is Shrek: Forever After, a far superior film to Toy Story 3. Yes, you heard it here first. Well, probably not first, as I would expect many other sad and lonely bloggers to be writing exactly the same on their unread dissertations.

There are a couple of categories where I was a little unsure about my decision. Best Supporting Actress could go any one of the five ways; I picked Helena Bonham Carter because of the fact that 'life partner' Tim Burton is up for several awards for his Alice in Wonderland, and it could make for some great photo opportunities at the after-show party. Best Original Screenplay is quite a strong category this year, and again it could go any one of the five ways here.

It would be silly of me to speculate on the categories for Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Foreign Language Film etc., etc., because I haven't seen a single one of them.

Hey ho, we look forward to February 27. The Oscars this year are sponsored by Hyundai, by the way.

Oh, you asked for it...

Yes, folk:

Just a brief note to inform you that, as of today, I hope to be updating this here blog on a far more regular basis. Why? Because I can. And I should. I have discovered over recent months that places like Facebook, as fun as they are, are not the place for the likes of me to be posting impotent rants about the state of the world and the world of the State.

Plus, it's almost time for me to nominate my now-annual Stephen Butler Prize for the album of the year. Start baiting your breasts and wait for the opening of That Envelope. I would do one for Film of the Year, too, but I've only seen three and they were all in 3-D and they were all animated. I could pick a winner out of those three if you like.

Remember the old adage, folks: Smile, and the world goes 'What the f*** are you smiling at?'

I'll be back sooner than you fear...I mean, think.

England, Oh England

Was there ever going to be any other result? Other than a 15-minute spell either side of half-time, England were so woeful across the park that Germany were able to crush the mighty Three Lions without breaking sweat.

There are two reasons why this happened. First, and perhaps most obviously, the manager must accept full responsibility for the failings of his team and resign. He insisted on playing a system that the players were not used to, he played individuals out of position and ultimately cost himself the respect of the players that he so desperately craved.

Second, we have the players themselves. Half the players are, I believe, world class and the equal to any Brazilian, Spaniard, Italian or whatever. I'm talking about Rooney, Gerrard, both Coles, Terry, Ferdinand, and Beckham (if fit). Cappello should have looked at the players he had, then built the system around them, instead of forcing them to play a system that virtually none of them (except possibly Dafoe) play at club level. How hard can that be? But equally the players should have made more of an effort, instead of giving up at the first hurdle. We can't do this, so we can't be bothered. That's the truth of the matter, not the noncommittal 'we don't know' that Gerrard gave when questioned about it after the Germany defeat.

We need a new manager, new players and new commitment. Otherwise they will have to look at replacing the Three Lions on the shirt with Three Blind Mice.