Rain Man

You may remember the Tom Cruise film Rain Man - I think it was one of his earlier attempts at trying to get taken seriously as an actor. He plays a self-centred car salesman who thinks only of himself and uses people to get what he wants - you can see how cocky Tom Cruise was perfect casting! Then his father dies, leaving all the family fortune to an autistic brother Tom's character didn't know he had. So he attempts to get to know him in the hope of getting some money out of him only to find himself changed for the better by their relationship - dear God!

Well last summer someone turned it into a play, figuring I guess that people would rather see something they've heard of rather than something new that might actually be better. Add to that the fact that some actor would get kudos for playing an autistic character and it all starts to make sense. I didn't go, obviously, because it's not really my kind of thing, and Josh Hartnett was in it, who I don't really think can act.

But then a touring version was announced, starring Neil Morrissey who I think we all still have residual fondness for after Men Behaving Badly, and as tickets were only £6 I thought I'd give it a go.

It turned out to be quite an average evening in the theatre. All the weaknesses of the film were just transferred to the stage and it was hard to like. The younger brother is just too unpleasant to feel any sympathy. And the autistic brother is portrayed as this twitching, gibbering goon. I was mostly just irritated by it, but at least it was short. The chips afterwards, however, were stunning!

Rocktober - Gig 3 - the Folk one

People are a bit funny about Folk music. They assume it will be unintelligible songs sung by people with their finger in their ear, played on archaic instruments and only listened to by people who drink real ale. Well some of these things are true, but that doesn't make it a bad thing!

I've been hovering round the fringes of Folk for some time and on Wednesday evening went to what was probably my first proper Folk gig: The Unthanks. I had seen them before, at Teddy Thompson's Family Christmas thing at the Royal Festival Hall last winter, where they played a couple of songs and completely blew me away. After that I fell in love with their second album The Bairns.

The band are based around two sisters from Northumberland, with a whole host of extra musicians playing practically every musical instrument known to man! The sisters have extraordinary voices that work together so beautifully! Add to that the string section and it sounds amazingly moving!

They played songs from all of their albums, which includes a lot of old songs - Folk musicians clearly love their history! So we get songs about coal mining and boats wrecked at sea, as well as blackbirds and boyfriends. And clog dancing! That's right, clog dancing! I'd heard of it but assumed it was only something old men did in pubs, but apparently young women do it too and you know what, it was fantastic! Oh and yes they did sing with a finger in their ear.

The whole evening was lovely - warm, friendly and relaxed. And yes it did make me want to drink real ale! Surprisingly Folk fans are not all old men with big beards - there was a high percentage of attractive men with grey hair and good jeans. I think I am now in touch with my inner Folkie.

Here's the band doing a lovely song about coal mining:

Just a quick blog to make pathetic excuses about the lack of blog.

After two evenings at home doing literally nothing - unless you count watching bad TV and chatting to strangers something - then today everything kicks off. In my lunch hour I found myself: helping my sister sort out a school for her eldest, apply for a job online and look for door handles; and tried to sort out a leaky car roof of my own. This has added 33% to my franticness and is a bit annoying.

So, between now and Saturday, if everything goes according to plan, I'll be visiting four different cities. Makes me sound like a rock start doesn't it! If only... Realistically there might not be much time to blog so don't panic if you come back and find this apology still here. I'll be twittering I'm sure.

Last night I made another attempt to enjoy classical music, and unlike previous efforts it was a success! Hurrah!

I went to Norwich to see the Britten Sinfonia, who I saw before in the same place but failed to enjoy. This time things went a little better, mainly because I think it was a bit of a 'greatest hits' kind of show.

The first piece was Bach's Brandenberg Concerto No. 3 (in G major if you please), which I'd heard of and recognise - I'm sure it's been the theme tune to a gardening program or something. Anyway, it was lovely!

The next piece sounded ominous - written by Osvaldo Golijov, who is still alive, called Last Round - a name borrowed from a short story about boxing - it was a piece about the last great Argentinian Tango Composer. Heavens! But despite all that nonsense it was lovely!

But the second half was when it really kicked off: Vivaldi's Four Seasons alternated by the Four Seasons of the Argentinian tango composer, Astor Piazzolla. Even I know bits of Vivaldi's stuff, obviously from TV though. The shame. The Argentinian Four Seasons were written in 1970 and are far more modern, spiky and darker and even more energetic - the combination of the two sets was really thrilling!

So I think I'm starting to work out what I like: string intruments playing the lower notes, quickly and jaggedly. So Michael Nyman basically or anything that reminds me of him.

I did come home feeling slightly smug that I'd seen Argentinian classical music then realised all sensbile people would just go, "and?!"

This weekend has been the last couple of days of my holiday so I was determined to take it easy so I'll be fully refreshed for the return to work tomorrow. And that's just how it turned out.

I had a lazy day yesterday - a lie in, a little light housework, a very sweet gentleman caller then some light shopping and an evening in front of the TV. Today has been similarly lazy: I did some stuff with Mum, gossiped with my sister, then have had a pleasantly lazy afternoon at home. I need to get my act together and go out later but it will all be very civilised so it's hardly a chore.

Whilst I'm here there was just something I wanted to write about which I didn't get chance to earlier in the week: The Fourth Plinth.

On Monday Antony Gormley's One & Other installation finished - 100 days of ordinary people doing whatever they liked for one hour at a time on top of the empty fourth plinth on Trafalgar Square.

Obviously I didn't get a place on it, about which I was completely gutted. But I did spend a lot of time watching it, mostly obsessively online and whenever I was in London. Unfortunately all my visits seemed to coincide with people promoting charities - a good and worthwhile thing to do, obviously, but they made for dull Art.

In the end there were two memorable moments I saw online - the first was one I actually saw happening live one evening and was so gripped I missed something on TV: it's a man assembling an IKEA chest of drawers, just like the ones I have in my bedroom. It was gripping to watch! Here it is.

The second one I read about online and tracked down: it's a man standing on the plinth naked for an hour. It's not about sex, although he is fit enough to think dirty thoughts about, it's just about nudity and the body. You can enjoy him here and I highly recommend you do!