Bookazine Book Review: Love $ex and Trust - Romantic Adventures in Thailand
Movie Review: Lord of the Rings (The fellowship of the Ring) By Poppy I’m a great fan of fantasy movies so overall the odds were that I would love this movie. The biggest risk was that I might have set my expectations too high. But in the event they were exceeded. The Lord of the Rings being a novel (J.R.R Tolkien) many will have read the story already and have their own preconceived ideas on what the film should be like. Try to view it with an open mind and realise the problems transferring a story of these proportions from the pages of a book to a film screen. While taking pains to ensure that they stayed faithful to the novel, Jackson has not simply been able to lift the screenplay directly from its pages without a few necessary changes.
And yes we know Arwen Undomiel never saved Frodo from the Dark Riders but please, remember the ladies need something to keep them in their seat, not just midgets and men with beards fighting monsters. So, for gender representation and a bid to prevent half the potential market her character gets a drastic overhaul. Directed by Peter Jackson Cast: Elijah Wood ... Frodo Baggins, Ian McKellen ... Gandalf the Grey, Viggo Mortensen ... Strider/Aragorn, Sean Astin ... Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee, Liv Tyler ... Arwen Undermiel, Cate Blanchett ... Galadriel, John Rhys-Davies ... Gimli, Billy Boyd ... Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took, Dominic Monaghan ... Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck, Orlando Bloom ... Legolas Greenleaf, Hugo Weaving ... Elrond, Sean Bean ... Boromir, Ian Holm ... Bilbo Baggins, Andy Serkis ... Smeagol/Gollum
Uriah Heep - Abominog by Mott the Dog ***** 5 Star Rating In April of 1981, after 12 years of ups and downs, Uriah Heep collapsed in a heap of broken dreams. Ken Hensley, who had held the keyboards position and had been main song writer, had left the band after more rancour in the ranks, and his replacement, Gregg Dechart, had definitely not worked out. The last two albums, Fallen Angel (78) and Conquest (79), had been Heep’s weakest. The final tour was very difficult for the band (support band “Rage” had blown them off the stage every night) and quite frankly, agony for the paying public. On the last night of the tour drummer Chris Slade left to join Gary Numan and, after realizing he had set his sites a little low, later joined “The Firm” with Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page before taking over the drum seat with “AC/DC”. Bassist Trevor Bolder joined Wishbone Ash; talented vocalist John Sloman was let go after trying to take over the show leading the band in a very un-heep like direction, leaving the only remaining founding member, Mick Box, with the name but no band. After a couple of months of staring at the inside of the bottom of a bottle of vodka, band agent Neil Warnock coaxed Mick out to give it one more go. Mick’s first telephone call went to long time cohort drummer Lee Kerslake (who’d only originally left the Heep over a falling out with Ken Hensley). Having just been fired by “Ozzy Osborne”, Lee was glad of his old job back and became Heep’s 5th and 7th drummer. Although to be fair he has been with the band 28 years in total now. Also just sacked from Ozzy’s band was the great “Bob Daisley” on bass (Heep’s 6th Bassist). So he was dragged along by Lee Kerslake adding his considerable song writing skills to the party. Mick Box had always admired the skills of keyboard player John Sinclair from the disbanded “Heavy Metal Kids”, so he became Heep’s 3rd keyboard player. The final part of the jigsaw was put together when vocalist Peter Goalby (Heep’s 4th) was lured away from “Trapeze”. The new band then retired to the studio with producer Ashley Howe to emerge 2 months later with ABOMINOG, a classic in hard hitting melodic rock. From the moment Mick Box’s guitar riff hits you on opener “Too Scared To Run” you know you are in for a sumptuous ride. Goalby’s vocals are perfect for the Heep sound. Sinclair’s keyboards fill up all the gaps and include some truly exciting solos. Bob Daisley’s song writing skills have never been better shown off. Mick Box stomps his authority all over the guitar parts, wah-wah there, slide here, and as many twenty note a second solos as any heart could desire. It’s perhaps Lee Kerslake who’s the real star here though as his drums drive Heep on to glory. Incredibly, the album was a great critical and commercial success including hit singles, two of the covers “That’s The Way It Is” by Paul Bliss, and the stomping “On The Rebound” by Russ Ballard. Abominog was the spur that put Uriah Heep back on the tracks and they are still going today, although only Kerslake and Box remain from this lineup. Long may Mick Box lead his warriors into action. For those of you wondering what an Abominog is, it’s an Abominog of course.
Lee Kerslake - Drums / Vocals Track Listing 1. Too Scared To Run
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The
book is in two halves, with the first being an attempt to demonstrate the
reasons that Thai women are the way they are, the matriarchal society
caused by fathers who either work all the time or who abscond, and to
explain many of the Thai concepts which drive their society, such as
“Wai Jai” (trust), or the chilling “Khun Ja Mee Pan Ha” (you will
have a problem) or the ubiquitous “Arai Gaw Dai” (up to you) which
does not, according to the authors mean that at all - it is actually a
test of your generosity and kindness.
Accordingly,
a great deal more emphasis has been placed upon pacing and storytelling more
appropriate to a classic film narrative. Hence we need to see Gandalf’s
bid to escape the clutches of Isenguard interspersed with the Hobbit’s
journey to Rivendell. It simply isn’t appropriate to expect an audience to
bear with the Hobbits’ journey, no matter how good the actors are or how
enthralling the story is, for upwards of an hour without constant reminders
of the films other protagonists or the threat of the evil they face.
Mott’s CD review:
Musicians: