I really liked this movie... or it could have been the double sundae with crushed malteasers I had in Gold Class that put me in such a forgiving mood...

Whatever. Here's the review:

In 1966, at the height of what could be argued was the golden age of British rock, the BBC — in it’s infinite wisdom — devoted only 45 minutes a day to the genre. This gave rise to a fleet of pirate radio stations anchored in international waters in the North Sea. These floating stations provided the UK with the music for which it so desperately hungered – rock and roll, and (according to the opening credits) enjoyed an audience that was roughly half the population of the UK.

The Boat that Rocked in the story of one such station (albeit a fictional one), based loosely on Radio Caroline, one of the most popular stations of the day. Told through the eyes of 18-year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge) who is sent out to his godfather, Radio Rock station’s manager, Quentin (Bill Nighy) to be straightened out after being expelled from school by his mother (a fabulous cameo by Emma Thompson). A move that proves, in Quentin’s words “a spectacular mistake”.

Radio Rock in inhabited by a quirky bunch of characters, particularly the DJ’s who keep the station on air. Headed by the station’s famed American DJ, The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the crew is a who’s who of current English acting talent.  Rhys Ifans stars as the equally popular Gavin, who rocks the boat (literally) by coming on board to rattle the Count’s status as the number one DJ and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) is great as the hapless Dave, to name a just a couple of them.

Against a background of groupies, a population secretly listening to the illegal stations, Carl trying to lose his virginity and find his father, is Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) back on land, and his chief henchman, Mr Twatt, (Jack Davenport), desperately trying to find a way to shut the stations down.

The story swings (literally) between the audience, the evil bureaucrats. and Radio Rock as they all head for an inevitable confrontation at the end of the film.

The soundtrack from this movie awesome, although purists will object to hits played in 1966 that weren’t actually released until 1969, but that is a minor quibble. The film is laugh out loud funny in places, there is not an actor in the film who doesn’t seem to having the time of their lives. Better yet, the movie has a feel good ending that’s as fun as it is predictable.

If you were even remotely alive in the sixties you will love this film. I was a small child  back then, but I was foot tapping my way through the whole thing. Most of the hits are such classics kids whose grandparents were born in the sixties will probably know them.

Writer/Director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bridget Jones Diary, Mr Bean, Black Adder) has put together a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours while having a highly stylised history lesson to the soundtrack of a fabulous decade.

Look closely at the label...

The photo is from the failblog.org, a site dedicated to documenting other people's stuff ups.

Makes you feel smarter, just knowing the site exists...hehehe

Secondborn picked Dace up from the schoolbus yesterday. Naturally enough, she asked him how his day had been.

Excellent, he replied, as he strapped on his seatbelt. We learned a new song in Orange language.

Orange language? asks a very puzzled Secondborn.

Yes! he says happily. And we learned another song, too. Only this wasn't in the Orange language. It was in normal, human langauge.

Oh, says Secondborn, who speaks fluent Dace, Do you mean Mandarin?

That sounds right, says Dace. Did you want me to sing them for you? They're really cool songs.

I'm not sure Secondborn answered him. I think she was choking:)

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I am deep in the process of researching the Druids for The Undivided. The first thing I discovered is that while there are whole encyclopaedias of speculation out there, there ain't a lot of hard facts about them.

This dearth of hard fact has an upside and a downside.

The upside is that if nobody knows much for certain, then I can play in this world without fear of being corrected and pretty much do whatever I want with them (within the logical bounds of worldbuilding, natch).

The downside is that a whole bunch of new-agey types have put their own modern slant on the Druids. They've pretty much been been hijacked by the modern Wicca movement (and various similar offshoots) and - assuming they read fantasy - ain't gonna like where I plan to take this series.

So now I'm thinking this book is going to have a disclaimer at the start along the lines of ... "Dear reader, much of this series is set in an alternate reality and the Druids in that reality respresent  a society that has evolved over 2000 years. Just as western society in 2009 looks nothing like Roman Britian, so these alternate reality Druids look nothing like the Druids of 2000 years ago, either."

Or, I could just put... "Dudes... chill out. It's fiction."

Either way, I suspect I'm going to have to write something... hehe

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Home safe and have finally restored the internet connection.

Phew...

Catch up tomorrow. Sleep now:)