I had all these fancy titles ringing around my head but in the end I chose a cheap headline grabber. Please forgive me and read on, you know I love thee really.
Sport doesn't have the same magic for me as it seems to for everyone else. Even in 2012 when everyone had Olympic mania and the Queen impressed the planet by arriving at the Olympic stadium via parachute with James Bond, sport barely registered in my dusty old mind. Winning trophies? The pulse of a cheering crowd as victory calls? I don't 'get it', and never have.
I remember as a boy being taken to Wrexham to see Wales play Russia in football and all I remember was that I was cold, bored and shocked that so many grown ups would willingly choose to waste their time with such a misery. So much dreary, dreary.
But that was football. Rugby was a different beast. Being Welsh and having lived all my life in west Wales, how could it not be? Everyone loved rugby in my sleepy corner of the world. The stunning defeat of New Zealand at Stradey Park in 1972 when the pubs ran dry (true story) after Llanelli beat them 9 - 3 was still fresh and though only a year old in 1972 the cheer carried on for many a year (even today).
I love rugby. I went to Strade comprehensive which was across the road from Stradey Park, our teachers would regularly take a class over to see the bigger games. Local legends Ray Gravelle and Phil Bennet came to the school, rugby was religion.
A force to channel a surge of passion and excitement, and bring some sunshine to a soon to be winters soul. Cawl for the spirit if you like.
So its pretty depressing to wake up every morning (2015 rugby world cup has kicked off) to hear of yet another injury to the Welsh squad. Do the rugby gods not want a Welsh win? Or are they planning a spectacular run of victories? Who can tell?
Life has a funny (and sometimes tragic) way of showing us what is and isn't important and for me I only need think back a week when the news was full of pictures of that poor child washed up on a beach dead. Real life is heavy and though the soul can withstand ferocious heartbreak when called upon, it was not made for such unbearable weight.
Naturally I want Wales, Cymru fach, to win and feed the dragon but ultimately its not important. Its not in the slightest bit important when we see others going through so much hurt.
Oh and remember! I am not saying this with defeat in mind and trying to pass it off as "there are other more important things to worry about" (here you can picture me winking knowingly). I don't play that game, as honest as the day is sharp, I can take both sweet and sour in equal measure and face them naked in my honesty.
Way back when I was in school I used to carry a notebook everywhere I went to record daily thoughts and observations. So you see, ive been blogging since before it was popular and where better to carry it onward than to give it a digital page of its own? Welcome to the pages of bar fly Hollywood Francis...
Tuesday 22 September 2015
Thursday 3 September 2015
007 Elba
The love for all things 007 has always left me standing cold. I have never even watched arguably the most famous Bond, Sean Connery in the iconic role. The adventures of cool British secret agent (or whatever he is), doesn't interest me in the slightest. Hang on scrap that, I did watch Daniel Craig in Skyfall and enjoyed it (mostly) but then he could have been playing any secret agent and I would have thought the same.
I wouldn't normally bother comment on who the next 007 should be but this fuss over the author having said that British actor Idris Elba wasn't "sauve enough" to play Bond has me pulling my fingernails out. And its exactly the kind of nonsense I knew would come from trying not to offfend anybody. The compassion of a "new age" has all the ingredients to hurt everyone but I digress slightly and move back to film.
Many moons ago (before political correctness was hip) I suggested to a group of friends that Wesley Snipes would make a cool Bond. Naturally I was shouted down but I still think it a good idea today. Snpes might be a black actor, and he isn't British but it wouldn't bother me if I was a fan of those movies. So you can see that having Elba in the role wouldn't be an issue for me.
Saying that however, I DO see where others are coming from when they say he's not right for the role.
And before someone tries saying it, no this isn't me going down the "im not racist but..." route however much saying that makes it easier for people to cast my opinion aside. Racist louts are easy to dismiss, common sense and stone cold sanity are a little harder.
I am a huge comic fan but would a black actor playing Superman or Batman cut it? I doubt it very much but am I suddenly racist for thinking this? Of course not (at least I hope you wouldn't think it, otherwise we've already turned down the road of no return).
One of my favourite films, which funnily enough stars Wesley Snipes, is "White Men Can't Jump" and what I got from that film was "hey, we're all different but you know, thats okay" and im totally fine with that as its the world I love living in. Things like colour shouldn't be a problem, especially in entertainment and I am convinced that some of those who bang on about equality and fairness, are the people who are really against it.
Just my thoughts.
Oh and for the record, eventhough im not a big movie guy these days, I consider Idris to be one of our finest British actors (and no, that's still not me saying "im not racist but..."
I wouldn't normally bother comment on who the next 007 should be but this fuss over the author having said that British actor Idris Elba wasn't "sauve enough" to play Bond has me pulling my fingernails out. And its exactly the kind of nonsense I knew would come from trying not to offfend anybody. The compassion of a "new age" has all the ingredients to hurt everyone but I digress slightly and move back to film.
Many moons ago (before political correctness was hip) I suggested to a group of friends that Wesley Snipes would make a cool Bond. Naturally I was shouted down but I still think it a good idea today. Snpes might be a black actor, and he isn't British but it wouldn't bother me if I was a fan of those movies. So you can see that having Elba in the role wouldn't be an issue for me.
Saying that however, I DO see where others are coming from when they say he's not right for the role.
And before someone tries saying it, no this isn't me going down the "im not racist but..." route however much saying that makes it easier for people to cast my opinion aside. Racist louts are easy to dismiss, common sense and stone cold sanity are a little harder.
I am a huge comic fan but would a black actor playing Superman or Batman cut it? I doubt it very much but am I suddenly racist for thinking this? Of course not (at least I hope you wouldn't think it, otherwise we've already turned down the road of no return).
One of my favourite films, which funnily enough stars Wesley Snipes, is "White Men Can't Jump" and what I got from that film was "hey, we're all different but you know, thats okay" and im totally fine with that as its the world I love living in. Things like colour shouldn't be a problem, especially in entertainment and I am convinced that some of those who bang on about equality and fairness, are the people who are really against it.
Just my thoughts.
Oh and for the record, eventhough im not a big movie guy these days, I consider Idris to be one of our finest British actors (and no, that's still not me saying "im not racist but..."
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