Winter's Bone Has Real Oscar Potential

Our late night trip to the cinema did not disappoint and Winter's Bone proved well worth staying up late for.

Whether the sparse attendance at Vue was vindication of the multiplex chain's decision to give the film just one showing or the result of that showing being scheduled at 10.30pm, there's no denying that those who contributed about thirty quid in total to the cinema's coffers certainly got their money's worth.


A cast of unknowns is led by Jennifer Lawrence (surely an Oscar nominee) as teenage daughter Ree, abandoned by a neer do well father and left to look after two young siblings and her dementia suffering mother. The errant dad has used the family shack and adjoining land as surety for bail and when he goes missing the family is faced with eviction and homelessness. The film charts Ree's attempts to trace her waster father and save her home in the bleak cold of the Ozark mountain region. There's another fine performance from John Hawkes as her drug addicted uncle "Teardrop".Hawkes puts such malice into an off screen warning "I've told you once"...."with my mouth" that you know pretty well that you wouldn't be pushing the point any further.


The cast are, without exception, totally convincing and any viewer would be forgiven for thinking this was somehow for real. The Ozarks' hillbilly inhabitants live in such squalor that trailer park trash would consider themselves royalty and stay at home mums on the higher tax band might think twice about moaning about the potential loss of their child benefits. The film moves with pace and has an excellent country soundtrack (shades of Deliverance) and I can heartily recommend it to anyone who gets the (slim) chance to go and see it. Five stars for me.





Before Winter's Bone we went to see "Buried". This is a highly unusual film set entirely within the confines of a coffin. Paul, an American truck driver working in Iraq (Ryan Reynolds), is the only actor on screen with the rest of the cast appearing in voice only. Paul wakes from concussion to find that his assailants have buried him alive leaving him with just a cigarette lighter for light and a mobile phone through which to channel their ransom demands and instructions. It's not a film for the claustrophobic but it manages to hold your attention throughout the entire ninety or so minutes. I could see this drama working well as a stage play as the audience gets drawn into the shocking reality of the situation. Reynolds plays the character well although he has too much rage for my liking but as a study in cynical corporate personnel relations it will make anyone thinking of a spell working in one of the world's hotspots such as Iraq or Afghanistan think more than twice before signing on the dotted line. Whoever pitched this "It's one man in a coffin for ninety minutes" and managed to sell it, is a genius but his or her genius is rewarded with a very watchable and thought provoking drama.

After weeks when things seemed to be constantly going wrong I finally had a bit of luck yesterday when this fine porcelain bowl purchased on eBay for £9.99 plus p&p turned up. Trawling through eBay for wrongly identified pieces is a little like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack and for every gem there's a thousand or more items that are either correctly catalogued or over priced. It's a bit like traipsing around a muddy field at a car boot sale where week after week turns up zilch but once a year there's something good. Anyway, this super bowl looks brand new and consequently was not listed as the 250 year old antique that it is. I would feel uncomfortable if the seller were an amateur but as it came from a ceramics specialist I have no such qualms. Ten years ago this might have fetched a four figure sum but collectors of antique porcelain are a dying breed today and its value is now probably less than half of that. None the less a nice find for a change.


I'll finish today with a mention of the new series of son Paul's show "A League Of Their Own". Starring James Corden, Freddie Flintoff, John Bishop, Jamie Redknapp and Georgie Thompson plus guests it airs at 10pm tonight on Sky1. Sky have a great line up this evening with "The Simpsons", "Modern Family" and "An Idiot Abroad" leading into "League". The show has a later slot this time around as some of the humour is pretty adult. We went to two recordings and it's guaranteed to raise a smile. Here's a clip from the last series.

No Room At The (Days) Inn

We went down to Teddington Studios on Wednesday to watch the recording of two episodes of the new season of "A League Of Their Own". We had a great time and enjoyed the shows immensely. Along with the four regulars, the guests were Chris Evans, Dermot O'Leary, Tim Henman and Phillips Idowu and each of them added a very different flavour to the proceedings. It is going to be a very hard job for the editors cutting several hours of footage down to two chunks of thirty minutes or less. Paul took us to the green room after the show but this time Marion was under strict instructions not to ask for her photo with any of the celebs so we left them in peace and I had a chat with James Corden's dad who is a really nice bloke. "What has this to do with today's blog headline?" I hear you ask. Well, as we were unsure of timings and whether we would be taking Paul back to Limehouse we didn't bother booking a motel as I thought that we would be able to choose the most convenient on the way back up north. We started heading towards South Mimms but a quick call informed us that the place was full so a change of direction was in order and it was back through central London and London Gateway on the M1 next. Same story there so on to Luton where the bloke in the service station newsagents told us there was no motel on site only for us to spot one when it was too late and we were back on the slipway and on our way to Milton Keynes.By now it was 1.30 a.m and surely we'd find somewhere to get our heads down there. But no it was the same story. Fortunately the receptionist directed us to somewhere else and at around 2 a.m we finally got to sleep.In future I'll get a confirmed booking before I set off and congratulations to Days Inn, no sign of any recession there.



At the recordings we were extremely impressed with Dermot O'Leary who has real presence and confidence and oozes professionalism and with the always funny John Bishop but I liked Freddie Flintoff best of all. He announced his retirement from cricket the day after the recording which is a pity but he has a very natural way of telling a story, is very self deprecating and naturally funny. It's sad that injury has forced premature retirement but I'm sure that he will have a very long TV career.



Teddington studios back onto a weir behind which are the famous navigational locks. We arrived early and had a walk. I was amazed to see a bright green parakeet in the trees on the river bank and thought that it was an escaped pet. But then we saw another and another and realised that there was a colony of them. I remember reading recently that Ring Necked Parakeets had become naturalised in the south of England but certainly didn't expect to see so many. It was obvious that the locals were used to them as they were given no more attention than the many wood pigeons that shared the tree tops.



The phone started ringing earlier in the week as news broke about a commercial coffee machine exploding in a Sainsburys store in Hampshire. I have been in the business for over twenty years and my family has been involved in producing pressure boilers for most of the past fifty years and this is the first instance of a pressure related accident that I have ever come across. The machine was sold by a reputable Italian firm although I don't know if they still manufacture in Italy or like many have contracted to the Far East. There are tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of expresso machines in use throughout the world and I can't help but think that something highly unusual must have happened to this piece of equipment as most pressure vessels have more than one fail safe device. Our only pressure boilers, the WB2 Supreme models have a safety valve, an operating pressure switch, a safety pressure switch and cut out and taps that would open long before dangerous pressure levels built up so an explosion is well nigh impossible. I am sure that the machine in question would incorporate similar safeguards.I read on the internet that a stuck safety valve was the cause but this alone should not be sufficient and I await the results of the inquest into the cause of the terrible accident.



If all goes well I should hit the target weight at the weekend. I've always wanted to be in one of those slimmer of the year photos, preferably one with a cardboard cut out of the earlier me. Well I haven't got a cardboard cutout so I'll have to make do with that other staple - holding out the waistband of the trousers that once fitted snugly. More on this next week if successful.

A big thank you to Jenny Buckley who, with the help of MCS of Southport (Mainframe Computer Solutions), our very own IT Crowd, has managed to get us back up and running with emails. We've got the internet too after a fashion but it is very slow and I am still trying to get the broadband back up. So thanks again Jenny and Steve and your team. You can't imagine how bad it has been without it - I had no idea what's been happening on YouTube and Twitter for almost a week. We'll soon put that right

A Mouse Free Morning

I went into the garage today and for the first time this week my trap had not been sprung. Earlier in the week I had two false alarms followed by the capture of the first field mouse on Tuesday and a second yesterday.I released both safely in the park at the same place so I hope that they meet up again in some sort of mousy love story although, as one turned left at the gate and the other turned right, it may be some time before their paths cross.They are harmless enough little creatures but they were scoffing all the bird seed and messing up the garage and I didn't fancy them finding their way into the kitchen.




I watched Liverpool last night and thought that they were unlucky to lose after the ref gave Benfica two penalties and sent off Ryan Babel. After months of malaise running through the team and the fans it is good to see the spirit that they have shown in the last two games. It's just a pity about the last twenty. Anyway the 2-1 defeat has set things up nicely for the return at Anfield where I will be joined again by my friend (who for the record is categorically not old) Dave Haworth.It promises to be a good night.



Son Paul's loyalties are divided and he is hoping that Liverpool lose next Thursday as their continual performances in the Europa League are clashing with his show "A League Of Their Own" in which John Bishop (above) is proving himself a popular panellist. As the show has a target audience of young sport lovers, the ratings are bound to be hit when the show comes up against football. The thing is, now that almost everyone has Sky Plus, they can watch both. I certainly did and I thought the show was, once again, very funny.As he has taken a 3-1 lead (I think) in the shows aired so far, it looks like Freddie Flintoff is going to be the champion.



Which leads me seamlessly to the quiz night organised by local accountants Champion. The themed quizzes held a few times each year are always great fun and local businesses are asked to put in a team. Last week the theme was france so we entered. Our team name was "Nous sommes chier et nous savons que nous sommes" but this was quite wide of the mark as the team, comprising me, Marion, sales director Nick, store man Tony and his son Rob ended up in a very creditable second place and if we had taken notice of a couple of Tony and Nick's answers we could have won. I forgot to mention this the day after due to some of life's pressures.



I've been so busy at Instanta this week that I didn't have time to blog (and I had a really good April fool blog planned too). But never mind, the Guardian more than made up for it with one of the best April fools for years. They reported that Labour were cashing in on Gordon's new hard man image and were planning a series of ads like that above. I was taken in after seeing this one but when I got to the Reservoir Dogs one I smelt a rat. Nice one Guardian. Just the right amount of plausibility for a perfect April Fool.

Did you see the touchline spat between Moyes and Mancini the other day? That was nothing. Here's a manager who really wears his heart on his sleeve. I had to laugh at his name - "Playfair".

Have a good Easter.

Unashamedly Name Dropping Today

We had a great weekend with a visit to Pinewood Studios to watch the recording of two episodes of Sky 1 HD's new panel show "A League Of Their Own". Son Paul devised this show and kindly got us onto the guest list for the recordings which meant that we found ourselves in the green room afterwards with a host of stars including James Corden, Jamie Redknapp (and Louise), John Bishop, Freddie Flintoff, Georgie Thompson (with Dec), Neil Morrisey and Abbey Clancey. I'm sure that none of them will be blogging today about meeting me and Marion but it was a fascinating experience. The show itself was extremely funny. James Corden is an outstanding host and the only problem I can see is what they choose to edit out to reduce the show to its half hour format as there was a good ninety minutes of genuinely funny material in each recording.

I got chatting to Malcolm Corden (James' dad). He is a genuine and devoted father who was proud of James and equally proud of his two daughters (who were also at the recording). As we discussed our kids, I realised what a close and loving family the Cordens are and I can see them as part of the inspiration behind Gavin and Stacey which , after all, has a great deal of family values in it. Malcolm knew Southport from his job which involves travelling to bookshops around the country.

I did my best to keep Marion under control but she was determined to have at least one photo as a souvenir of the evening and James Corden, the star of the night, very kindly agreed to have his photo taken with her. (Apologies for the blurred image). Tune in to watch the show when it airs on Thursday evenings in March. I'm sure that you will find it a lot of fun.

As someone "who appreciates the finer things in life" I got an invite to an exclusive showroom event being held at the local Mercedes dealership next week.As Mercedes Benz Finance have my account in the hands of a debt collector at the moment I was a bit surprised to get the invite. Maybe I should turn up with a placard " Mercedes Benz Finance 0% interest in their customers". Meanwhile my dispute with them continues. They insist that I owe about £500 for returning the car with a couple of scratches despite it having almost £1,000 worth of optional extras fitted and thousands of miles less than the contract mileage on the clock. Show me a three year old car without a couple of blemishes.



We've been running low on stock recently as we wanted to clear out all our old models before launching our new range next week at Hotelympia. Unfortunately we have sold more of the old units than we envisaged and poor Tony in the factory has been carrying out a juggling act to try and keep the customers satisfied whilst at the same time not building too many of the current range. Our electronics supplier John Walkinshaw from KLH Electronics PLC is coming round tomorrow to demonstrate the new programmes for us so that we will know what we are talking about when we stand on the exhibition next week.

I'll finish today with John Bishop. A really nice bloke. I think you will be seeing a lot of him in the near future.