Writer's Block

Barry Seal, an airline pilot is recruited by CIA agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) to conduct reconaissance missions over South America. He is intercepted by the Medellin Cartel who offer him a job. Schafer asks Seal to deliver guns to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua as part of. In turn, the cartel ask him to deliver guns to the Columbians and the drugs to the Contras who will deliver them to the States. With Tom Cruise in shades, I'm sure this film would have reminded me of Top Gun if I'd ever watched it in the first place. Domhnall Gleeson is a safe pair of hands in most roles, his stand out moment coming when he demands the burning of all records linking the CIA to Seal. I don't know how often this occurs in their offices but I'm inclined to believe it does. It reminded me of (although is vastly inferior to) Catch Me If You Can, a story about a criminal with a certain set of skills living the high life and giving the authorities the run around before it all ine...

I finally got round to watching Ava DuVernay's "13th" on Netflix this afternoon, which I've heard a lot about and I imagine many are familiar with, having been nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars (losing out to the terrific "O.J: Made In America"). The film's title refers to the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibited slavery and servitude except in cases of incarceration. It proceeds to make the case that the African-American population have been targeted and criminalised to retain their status as second class citizens. And it's a compelling argument that takes us through Jim Crow legislation, the disproportionately hefty punishments for crack cocaine related offences through to Bill Clinton's "three strikes and you're out" policy that saw many black citizens imprisoned for life for three offences. We are dispiriting far from the end of these problems, as a chilling speech from Donald Trump abou...

A quiet bank holiday Monday. Popped into work for a few hours, took some bets. 75 bets. People gamble more on bank holidays, apparently. I also watched Jimmy Eat World's set from Reading Festival over the weekend, which I can conclude is the best way to experience Reading Festival, having been there in 2013. I was 25 years old. That is still too old to attend. But Jimmy Eat World are terrific. They returned last year with "Integrity Blues" (a fine record) and two brilliant London shows at the Troxy and Kentish Town Forum. Few of the bands I've seen over the past decade or so have been as consistently great as Jimmy Eat World and their 40 minute set on Iplayer demonstrates that still further.

Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) are two brothers who are down on their luck. Using Jimmy's insider knowledge as a former construction worker on the site, they elect to carry out a robbery at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In doing so, they enlist the help of Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), an incarcerated explosives expert. One of the main joys of this film is watching James Bond cut loose as a tattooed criminal, repurposing his blue eyed intensity and Craig is terrific, even if you don't believe a man can make a bomb out of gummi bears. Like a lot of films styling themselves as comedic of late, I wished it was funnier. One scene involving a prison riot and the inmates' interest in Game of Thrones felt particularly contrived. Having said that, there's also some entertaining business with Seth McFarlane as a NASCAR owner, even if his character's accent drifts all over the Commonwealth. The last 30 minutes drags the narrative in an implausible d...

Regarding the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, it transpires that I was 33.33% correct. Hannah Gadsby ended up sharing the crown with John Robins. Best Newcomer was awarded to Natalie Palamides for her show "LAID". Robins had a very funny show and I'm pleased for him, although his underdog persona may be in need of a tweak as he heads towards "the big time". I'm unsure how I feel about a split decision (they were keen to emphasise it meant double prize money), although the awards judges seem to make things up as they go along. No-one received the Panel Prize, which seems like something of a cop out too. It's not quite as outright insulting as the year that all the comedians who performed in Edinburgh (including presumably yours truly) were given the award and the prize money put behind a couple of bars* or something. *By which I mean in the form of a tab. Had they given it to all the comedians and said the prize money would be placed in a cage somewhere in t...

I got the results of the final assessment of my AAT Level 3 qualification today. I walked out of the exam certain that I failed it for a number of reasons and indeed it transpires that I have. I was surprised at the margins involved, 61% with a pass mark of 70%. I suppose I should take the positives, as I'm clearly a lot closer to passing then I thought I was 6 weeks ago, when a score between 30-40% seemed more likely to me. But coming reasonably close also feels exasperating.  Having found this whole process immensely difficult, it feels frustrating to have to "go again". But I hope some hard work in my free time over the next couple of months will get me over the line in the retake.

I went for a drink with a friend last night who performs in the spoken word scene. I got onto the subject of the poems featured in the Nationwide ads on TV at the moment. My friend in the know informed me that each of those acts is getting £30k to write and perform them. Clearly I'm in the wrong business. Not for the first time. I saw Gavin Osborn play the Big Top at Machynlleth Comedy Festival for a bit back in April and he played some songs off his forthcoming new record. Said record is titled "Echo Bridge" and will be released next week. As a longstanding fan of his warm witty acoustic songs, this is excellent news. He released the first song off it yesterday entitled "I Am European" , confirming my suspicion that last year's referendum will be a key theme of the album. It's a song for us bedwetting liberal snowflakes who comprise the 48%, but none the worse for that.