The Eagle

I went to the local cinema last night to watch 'The Eagle' with my friend Luke, we both tend to like sword and sandals stuff so I sat down hoping it was going to be a winner. Although I can't say its a bad film I can say it really didn't work for me either.

The film stars Channing Tatum who Luke had warned me several months ago wasn't the best of actors, he was right, although looking the hero part he did come across as very wooden and certainly lacked any charisma, so from the outset I really didn't warm to his character or root for him. There was some interesting opening action though the first set of characters just didn't feel very Roman, sorry but in my view Brits make more convincing Romans than American actors, John Hannah in the recent Spartacus series for example, Brits just seem to convey that Roman aloof character much better me thinks!

So after an initial skirmish in the Hadrians wall area our hero is transported 200 miles back to Calleva which was a Roman town west of London in now what is Berkshire. Except if we take say a suggested journey from the Hadrians wall area say Carlisle to Calleva (modern day Silchester) then we are talking a journey of 310 miles. Back in the day such a journey with a wagon would have taken a fair old time of which our hero Marcus Aquila seems to have been out of it the whole journey. I knew from being a history buff Calleva had been probably sacked about 60AD by Boudica's rampaging army at the time, though the settlement did get back on its feet in later years. The film makes Calleva look picturesque but I suspect it would have looked more military camp than idyllic backwater.

Anyway, back on with the blog. Our hero acquires a slave by the name of 'Esca' acted very well by Jamie Bell I might add, who acts Mr Tatum under the table, not that it was hard or Bell acted out of his skin either. The pair from an unlikely 'Master & slave' duo and head north to recapture the Eagle standard of the 9th Legion which was lost in Caledonia (Scotland) by Aquila's father in the film. Donald Sutherland plays an elderly relative of Aquila and is just there for a quiet interlude in the film and an easy pay check, shame as he is an awesome actor and none of the other characters really stand out. The movie lacks character building on all accounts, good and bad guys included and in the end I didn't really care if Tatum who miraculously comes back from deaths door gets the eagle home or not.

Last years Centurion movie did the same style of story better with good casting, characters, tension and visuals. If you wanted to watch a similar movie with plenty of action I'd go for Colin Firth in 'The Last Legion'.

As we walked home my friend Luke raised a very good point which was 'if you are going to do this type of movie, you have to do it right' and I think that statement summed this movie up for me.

Tv Of The Month

I've not watched a great deal of television this month but one programme that really fascinated was 'The Bibles Hidden Secrets' on BBC2 on Tuesday nights at 9pm. Don't get me wrong I've not gone all religious, that I'll never do but this programme presented by the very beautiful Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou a biblical scholar and lecturer from Exeter university was fascinating and raised some real questions regarding faith.

I liked her non-confrontational approach when dealing with members of the Jewish and Christian faith, she posed her questions, let them have their say and then after gave her interpretation and perceptions. Of course hers where based on evidence from archeology, conflicting biblical texts (of which there is many) and historical evidence. The three programmes challenged the story of David and Goliath, If ancient people of that era indulged in polytheism and the garden of Eden.

The set of programmes went on to illustrate how things in the bible have been covered up, rewrote and how Israel as a state has probably been economical with the truth regarding certain historical sites in the interest of their own national identity. It was compelling watching, and Dr Stavrakopoulou's arguments and observations backed by solid evidence certainly made sense. Jewish and Christian people on the programme of course stuck to their blinded by faith script and wouldn't contemplate observations and arguments put to them, no shocks there then?

The programme was all down to earth stuff, was there a biblical garden of Eden, nope but kings of that time did build lavish gardens and if it was to get destroyed then why not write the whole episode up differently? Did people from that period and area worship other gods? Almost definitely, earlier scripts mention it, later scripts cover it up and there's hard archaeological evidence to back it up. Personally I hope the very captivating Dr Stavrakopoulou releases a book to accompany the series, and even better does a signing at my local Waterstones!

Blogging: A Cautionary Tale

I was reading on the BBC News website this morning that a group of MPs are trying to get reforms passed against so called cyber stalking, and possibly make it more of a criminal offence. Personally I am skeptical how they will define stalking when there is so much seemingly about all of us out there in cyberspace these days, my blog being an example and Facebook etc. Yet this said, I feel due to recent events I have actually been monitored for a purpose to a certain degree. I can't accuse the person of stalking as this blog is open to all but without doubt its definately been kept tabs on.

On the 22nd of this month I had to go to court locally for a car accident I was involved in May of last year. The case being basically who was responsible for the collision, his claim differed to mine of course, and after some months we'd arrived at court. On arriving at court and meeting my barrister we perused the evidence that had been set out against me. In that evidence was a printed copy of a blog I did last year briefly regarding said accident. I really felt quite surprised my opponent had gone to lengths to trace me on the internet and keep regular watch on my blog and indeed use the blog in which I mention the accident against me. In some respects it wasn't a total shock, I do have regular readers and of course randoms ones but I know where people are viewing from because I have tracker software integrated into the blog, so when someone keeps popping up, like my opponent did from the same part of the country then a pattern builds.

The evidence in my blog was used against me with little effect, sure I had mentioned the accident but the blog related to a programme I'd watched involving karma etc. His barrister of course used selective tracts of that blog from last May against me. I always knew from websites, chat rooms, chat programs etc how typed words could be misconstrued, have double meanings and lose a lot of effect as there is no tone or voice or body language, hence misreading of intentions can occur. Not that I had anything to worry about in court, my personal typed musings were not considered as evidence and as my most excellent barrister pointed out, there was no admission of guilt or liability anyway and no mention from his barrister my line where I state I felt my driving had improved.

The whole episode though has left me wary of the content I may put in future blogs. I've always blogged openly and honestly about feelings, and to have my own personal blog used against me in court has been an eye opener to say the least. The fact someone would stoop so low to attempt to use my own words against me after blogging all these years saddens me. On a positive note the case was dismissed against me, he lacked conviction, tried to use furtive and innacurate means via my blog and had the most repetitive barrister. All the judge rightly wanted to know was who had hit who and who had seen it. My evidence rested on a witness who had seen the car clearly reverse into me on the day. He seemed to be a reluctant witness but his statement proved my recollection of events from the day, confirming as I has said the car had reversed into me and whoever he is he felt it right to come to court that day and say what he'd seen. There's nothing more to say on the matter really, the case against me was duly dismissed by the judge.

I'm not sure how the above incident will affect future blogs, I'd like to think I will go on blogging openly and keep The Hobbit's Journal public domain for all to read because it's something I really want to carry on with after all these years, it has always been a therapy of sorts, creative and basically I just love writing when the mood takes me.

This is however a cautionary tale, as the title states and I have already taken steps to improve security of the blog and install off site software that gives me info on web traffic. I'll go on blogging but this whole episode has made me more aware for the future, how accessible things can be on the internet and who is looking in.

And lastly I want you to all keep reading because I'm not going to give me little space on the internet up anytime soon!

Song Of The Month

The song of the month for March is again ... Infected Mushroom and another track from the Legend of the Black Shawarma album called 'Smashing the Opponent'. Not only does it have special significance for this month personally to me but it's a great song and video too.

As Days Go

As days go today wasn't a bad one. The morning started with the walk to the train station, the castle was shrouded in a misty haze of sorts but it wasn't cold. I'd anticipated sun so switched to a hooded body warmer graced by my 'mini' ruck sack as I call attached to my back.

I'd discovered my Sony psp in a draw last night and decided to take it with me today to kill those boring travel moments. Imagine my glee on the train when I realised there were some episodes of Babylon 5 in mp4 format on the memory stick! To add to the good start to the day was an appearance of the 'Chocolate' (no she's no brown!) girl as I call her waiting on the platform, as usual we exchange looks, smile a little and flirt a bit with eye contact until the train arrives.

The mood in the homeless centre is muted but not pessimistic, most of the service users seem to have come to terms with its closure even if they deservedly aren't happy about it. The other staff seemed jovial today and there's talk of going for drinks on Friday when it closes, an emotional time for certain I suspect.

Nottingham seems to be a city in a transitional phase, almost like everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what happens in the future. Shops seem to be closing, facilities are closing, council cuts are certain and I think people are seeing what comes through the other side.

I head for the train station mid afternoon, it's not been a bad day at all I muse to myself, made better by some drop dead gorgeous women that Nottingham seems to have an abundance of. After a subdued couple of weeks my morale is rising slightly even though I know testing times lay shortly ahead. I think of my friend that's having a tough time of late through bereavement and hope all is going as well as can be expected for him.

But the positive day doesn't end there, I find an old external hard drive that I no longer have cables for but suspect may have some interesting stuff on. Then I realise I live about 4 doors from a computer shop so pop it around there. The man inside has suitable adapter and cable. We haggle and agree a price and then I go home to see whats on it, and my suspicions are right, it does indeed have some good stuff stored on it.

So there you go, a bit of a blog about nothing in particular apart from what a hobbit does on an average day.

Emotional Leverage

Today I got into a debate with a christian, a slightly smug one at that. After some time exchanging our very different views we agreed to disagree and a mutual and polite stand off was obtained - or so I thought!

The basis of our debate was proving if god existed or not. He claimed I couldn't prove it, which of course I cannot and of course my counter verbal parry was that he couldn't prove god existed either, a point that after some uncomfortable smiling he gave in to. Of course I wasn't convinced, as he'd just been extolling the virtues of the great being allegedly upstairs. To which I said god must be some kind of sick brutal dictator if he is letting stuff like this happen to Japan and Libya etc.

The point is in such arguments with people of faith is that despite reasoning with them using scientific backed information they will also maintain their faith regardless, admirable really but in my opinion sheer folly and wish thinking.

So after coming to a compromise of sorts we smile, all is amicable and differing viewpoints are respected. Then he begins to walk away and fires a last parting shot 'You'll see in the end, you'll see!'

Yep its the old christian emotional leverage move of trying to induce you to dwell on fear, fear of judgement and what could happen if you don't play their way.

I'm comfortable with the fact that at the end the only thing I am likely to see is a long period of restful darkness, and if I am wrong and the big fella is sat there ready to pass judgement then I'll have plenty to say to him before I go elsewhere.

ZX81

Just saw this on the BBC News website and went all funny inside. I recall when the Sinclair ZX81 came out and boy did I desire one. Posh friends had one but my parents being working class didn't buy into my constant pleadings for one. I was 13, the ZX81 seemed revolutionary and so futuristic its hard to convey nowadays. I remember going into WH Smiths and remembering the whole code to a game called '1k Ski' which literally ran on 1k of memory. When you ran the game it was guiding a line of full stops cascading down the screen between square blocks. It ran for a few seconds then ended, if you hit a block it ended immediately. Games in time did of course get better and then extra memory came out in the form of a 16k plug in ram pack which was a dubious connection at best. I had to wait a while before the ZX Spectrum came out before I managed to get my first computer and I so wish I still had it. I'm feeling all nostalgic and fuzzy warbles inside now!

Japan Tsunami

Truly surreal and sad scenes today as Japan fell victim to the biggest earthquake in its recorded history followed by a tsunami. The death toll is not yet confirmed but running into the hundreds thus far. I'd like to take time out to ask people of faith what they think?

Is your god being a dicatator here and swinging his mighty arm as Japan though being tolerant of all religions is one of the least religious countries on the planet? Is your god so oblique that he gets kicks from this? One thing is for sure, science again proves the answers to the castastrophe in the form of tectonic plates in the earths crust clashing, as they have recently in New Zealand. Unfortunately scientists have little time to warn us of the after effects and of course our christians friends 'god' gives us no warning at all. So is it tectonic plates clashing in what could be gods imperfect creation or god just being malevolent as usual? Discuss!

John Shuttleworth

After years of being a fan I finally got to see the legendary John Shuttleworth last night at the lovely little venue that is the Drill Hall in Lincoln. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mr Shuttleworth or indeed the Shuttleworth family, they are the creation of actor/singer/comedian Graham Fellows who had a one hit wonder punk hit back in 1978 with 'Jilted John'.

The character John Shuttleworth first caught my eye back in the late 90s with his mini series 500 Bus Stops in which unemployed John from Sheffield and his manager and sole agent (who you never see) Ken Worthington embark on a 'Rock Tour of the UK'. The tour never really gets off the ground as Johns Austin Ambassador Y Reg soon breaks down forcing Ken to make a decision to carry on the tour by public transport bus. The duo then continue to have minor adventures locally in Yorkshire and Derbyshire etc in which John gets chance to showcase his dubious keyboard skills on his Yamaha portable organ.

Anyway, back to last nights Shuttleworth gig. To be truthful it was well worth the wait to see him, despite being sat behind a rather rotund lady with a large permed haircut. As soon as John Shuttleworth comes on stage you feel like you already have a personal rapport with him, he's very much the bloke next door with lots of deadpan and at times very subtle clever comedy. The crowd loved it and there really seemed to be a warm glow to the place.

John Shuttleworth stands on stage with only his Yamaha decorated with a bit of tinsel as props, thats it, but his personality and good humour make for everything else. He muses on types of bread, the fact that you can see yourself approaching silver kitchen pedal bins and confronts the dilemma is one cup of tea enough or is two literally too many? Johns beauty is that he talks about everyday stuff and reflects on past adventures and his relationship with eccentric manager Ken Worthington (also voiced by Fellows). He recalls the time when he thought Ken had booked him to play with Billy Joel only to find out it was in fact a village hall, of course both said fast they sound quite similar and this had the crowd in hysterics. My home town of Newark gets a mention as John points out the Brough rest stop on the A46 isn't really a very good rest stop at all, though it does have two green wheely bins. Mr Shuttleworth's local knowledge does indeed seem endless at times as does his savvy with past chart bands that have since died a death.

Interlaced with his unique style of observational humour is the songs for which he is known and loved for and we are graced with such classics as 'Can't go back to savoury now', 'Eggs & Gammon' and 'Austin ambassador Y Reg' which has the enthusiastic crowd punching the air with glee.

There's also a brief song about the above mention 'Brough rest area' to my own delight.

I left the gig feeling fulfilled at seeing the living legend at last, both my friend and I enjoyed it immensely and thought it was £15 well spent and we both purchased some iconic Shuttleworth merchandise to boot. John Shuttleworths tour ends in Orkney of all places which just goes to show how far he is willing to travel and how widespread his fanbase is. Mr Shuttleworth come back soon, or even better come to my home town of Newark but be sure to take a rest at the Brough rest area on the way!

For the Shuttleworth's website click here.

And here is John Shuttleworth in his recent Yorkshire Tea advert.

The Balcony Overlooking The Worlds End

So there I sat on the balcony of my hotel room in Malta, almost Christmas 2010. Sipping a bottle of cold water and peering down into the street below. The bars had mostly all shut and odd souls of the night were sauntering around or heading back to their hotels or homes. If I looked to my left in the day time the sea was visible, below me was an Irish themed bar and an Elvis tribute bar, tacky indeed! The Irish bar was ok, I'd been in a few times, though I'd given the Elvis one a very wide berth. Nestled between them was a hairdressers who was opened about 9am in the daytime by a very foxy Maltese lady.

Now though it was dark, probably actually about 2am in the morning as I sat there thinking I was going to lose my sight, and pondering the grim realities of it.

A couple of weeks earlier I'd been to eye casualty at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and had been diagnosed with an eye pressure of 30, which is unusually high as I was told normal eye pressure is usually 21. They seemed concerned and I was given eye drops to lower the pressure which I had to take at night before I slept. To be honest I'd been in a fair degree of pain with it, and having a history of eye problems I was expecting glaucoma to manifest itself in my right eye, and I really didn't want that agony after once having it in my left eye years back.

The only thing I could really do was carry on, take the drops, pop painkillers or sleep when the pain was too much to bear. The downside was my eyes were tiring quickly on holiday and the pain was a constant throb. Pain killers and alcohol were a temporary relief but probably not helping either as they'd raise the general blood pressure for sure within me.

Sitting there I mused quite matter of factly what it would be like to lose my sight, I'd resigned myself to the reality of something bad happening so it seemed apt to face things head on. I came to the conclusion I wouldn't really handle it well at all, after all you use your eyes for so much, they are so vital you never really realise the impact of blindness till it's squaring up to you and threatening to throw its dark impenetrable veil over you. I thought about the silly to the serious things I'd miss about 'seeing'. It's moments like this when you realise it is often the simple things you see that keep you ticking over in life, seeing a friends smile or seeing my grans face light up when I take her chocolates over - the stuff that gives you an inner glow and being robbed of that would make me wither and die inside.

As I don't believe in gods there was nobody really to turn to that night, I felt empty and quite alone, and very helpless with it all.

Time passed and the pressure over the next few weeks did drop in my eye, and the pain subsided. I go to the hospital this week for a check up that I really should have had weeks ago but organisation in hospitals these days seems lacking (I blame the Tories!).

So I guess I was given a fortunate break, it was caught in time before it became harmful but I'll never forget that night, alone with my thoughts on the balcony overlooking the worlds end. How lucky we are sometimes.