Sean Penn: Holywood's Dangerous Angel

First off, I know some people think its somehow "cool" to dislike Sean Penn (which is fine, people with something to say and aren't shy about saying it generally do come under some heavy fire) but I have a confession: I like the guy. And always have ever since seeing him in 1988's Bad Boys movie.
I will probably get a few negatives from my fellow Brits by admitting this (he rubbed more than a few up the wrong way after what he said about the Falkland Islands but hey ho, we have free speech yes?) but as a force for creativity goes, Penn is quite...awesome and excuse me while I blow my own trumpet but the "Dangerous Angel" in my title took no thought, came in an instant and suits the actor perfectly. I'm not a big film fan these days (poetry and videogames have a bigger place in my heart) but if I see Sean Penn's name in the credits, its an easier sell for me.
The man is a walking stick of TnT, oozing with charisma and I adore that danger which plays around his eyes. The silver screen does more than fairly crackle when he gets his acting chops on. British actors have always been rightly celebrated with giants like Sir Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris but its always bugged me when some folk think American actors are less good. Perhaps today they are, like I said, I don't watch much movies these days, but Pacino, De Niro, Eastwood, Freeman and damn it yes Sean Penn? That's some heavyweight clout right there.
A local journalist once asked me which actor I would choose to recite my poetry. Obviously my first choice being Welsh was Richard Burton but when she said, I had to choose a living actor I could tell my reply surprised her a tad. "Sean Penn>?" She asked checking to see if she'd heard right. "Sean f**king Penn" I said, the F word used to emphasise how highly I rate his talent if that makes sense.

And the sad thing is? From the few movies I have watched recently featuring what the tabloids call, "hot young actors", I don't see a Burton or Penn in sight.

No Fun Losing But...

Losing at anything pretty much hurts if your heart is in the team you support. I don't recall the football manager who said it now (I don't follow football), but he said that, "football is more than sport. Its a religion." Here in Wales, we can say the same about rugby, indeed some would say its our national sport. We do have those strange people who prefer football (and I mean that light heartedly), but as a rule, rugby is where its at.
So you can imagine how many sad faces awoke on Saturday after losing to our age old rivals England the previous night (oh and for the record, I still cannot get used to Friday night rugby internationals). It stung that bit more too, especially after playing well in the first half and going into the second as the team with more points on the board. I thought we had the beating of them. I was confident the dragon would emerge victorious but alas when the final whistle blew, the score was Wales 16 England 21, and a nation was left either drowning our sorrows or having a little banter via Twitter and Facebook. Social media has made losing a nightmare because whereas before the internet, we only had work mates to face on a Monday morning, the joys of winning and sadness of losing is instant.
But lets not lose heart over it, afterall its only sport, not war. Nobody is dying here, there are worse things going on in this often cruel world.
Sure I would feel different had Wales won. As a passionate Welshman supporting our national team, I would be bouncing off the walls and gloating on Twitter like the English fans were doing (and good for them), but it doesn't hurt to be on the losing side once in a while. It keeps everything in check, proving nothing is immune to life's bitter blade. Safe to say that I would be extremely wary and nervous were I to ever meet someone/something that was forever winning. Success at every turn might sound like a grand old time but it would create such a fierce arrogance that no mortal could have it and not be corrupted in some terrible way. Perfection? Blessed? That way lies danger.
Anyway before I start wading into a different territory, I shall end by saying defeat might leave a sour taste in ones mouth, and will certainly dampen spirits for a while but with everything else going on in this world, losing at a sport should be the least of our worries.
Lose and learn from it. Oh, and *grits teeth* well played England.

Mario, Get Yer Guns

What are the odds I will go off subject in this post? Still, I will try.  After reading yet another article calling yet another videogame a "burglary sim", I had to put pen to blog.  Why? Because its lazy journalism, sloppy and winds me up. Hell, the same could be thrown at television but for some peculiar reason we don't do that.
I don't watch television but from the clips I've seen on the interwebz and things I hear on forums, nothings changed from when I did used to watch it. Scheming, plots, adultery, revenge, murder, and bloodshed. Its all there, played out by glamorous women and guys with chiselled physiques. Gotta look your best when you're knee deep in sin right?
And so it goes that videogames have followed that same path. Those age restrictions on the box aren't there to make the case look pretty, videogames have matured and its illegal for soft parents to give in ("for ten minutes peace") and buy wee Jimmy a shooter with a bloody big red 18 stamped on the box. Is that ten minutes peace really worth a hefty fine? Dont think it doesn't happen because it does (more often than you'd care to think).
So we have a burglary sim now do we? What about Grand Theft Auto? Armed robbery sim? Dishonored? A murder sim?
These are games fer Crissakes, but the way some journalists describe them make them sound like guides on how to raise hell for real. One of my current favourite videogames is Thief, a game where, yep you guessed it, you skulk around an 18th century London inspired city, pilfering gold watches and clubbing hapless city guards over the noggin. But I don't play the game to train as a cat burglar, anymore than a fan of 24 watches the show in hope of becoming a CIA agent (or whatever the heck Kiefer Sutherland is meant to be).
And what frustrates me more is that I read this on a gaming website not the Daily Mail  (where one expects such petty sniping). Honestly, videogames have become a massive business in these last few years and deal with mature subjects. Can't we be at least as responsible when writing about them?

Second Chance Saloon

So footballer Ched Evans is freed from prison after serving half of a five year sentence for rape. You read that right: rape. And due to the nonsense from his teams fans, his victim has had to get a new identity and move away. Now I like to think I'm a fair man, people screw up and they deserve a second chance. But there exists a group of crimes so heinous and vile, that allowing for a second chance is is something not easily given.
And sexual offences are among the. Evans hasn't even acknowledged his crime and carries on as if nothing happened. He'll just go back to his thousands of pounds a week job while the victim has had to change her life completely. Football, indeed most sport, are funny old things. If you bang in the goals and bring home those trophies, you can get away with anything. And this isn't jealousy over his mega wage, the guy is now a convicted rapist and if I was a supporter of his club, I wouldn't want him playing again. But then I wouldn't put anything past knuckle dragging supporters, success is all, despite having a rapist in the team.
How Evans can even show his face again is beyond me. If it were me, I'd lock myself in my home and never show my face again. The thought of appearing in front of a stadium filled with thousands of people wouldn't cross my mind. But then people like murderers and rapists aren't like us. There's not a shred of remorse or decency in their bones.
Supporters who are standing by him ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Auld Hamish Went Away

Prime Minister makes heartfelt speech

Its all been said before. Politicians, singers, actors, bloggers, even the shy walking-the-dog types who do little more than gaze out at the seas, minds content in a happier place. So Dai Jakes will cast his shilling into the cap as well. This week Scotland votes yes/no to Independence which will herald a new 'dawn' for Great Britain. We will all be affected: Wales, England, Northern Ireland, not just the Scots (and by the way, it is Scots and not "Scotch" as some (usually foreigner) have written. Scotch is a drink).
Now as a proud Welshman, and 100% Celt, one would think I'd be up for this Independence lark. Who knows? If it worked out for Scotland, then us Welsh could try it too and in my heart it all sounds grand. Its perfect in fact, I can feel my Welsh soul dance with the music it was born with.
But alas my head thinks opposite. My mind is filled with doubts and what ifs? and is weighed down by the simple fact that should Scotland choose to break from the union, hundreds of years of history will be shattered. Not forgotten, or cast away like some moth eaten rug but definitely shattered.
We have defended this great island for over a thousand years as one, and during two world wars our fathers and grandfathers fought not as Scos or Welsh but as British. We were, we are Great Britain, stronger and better together. There is too much risk in splitting such a wonderful nation who lets not forget has given the world so much.
As Stephen Glover writes today in the Mail Online:

"I know I will grieve on Friday morning if my country, Britain, has been voted out of existence. Millions of people will feel likewise. The end of the nation that has done more than any other to shape the modern age, and saved the free world as recently as 1940, is really too big an idea to get one’s mind around."

I 100% agree with Mr Glover in this. Our tabloids speak of a 'Broken Britain'? Come the end of this week, and should Scotland go its own way, then we shall know of a broken Britain. And I for one will mourn for it.

Fishing for Holllywood

Stranger things happen of course, afterall we inhabit a planet filled with miracles and disaster, so it wouldn't surprise me to learn that some sharp suited movie Joe with a fondness for the marching powder buzzed by this old blog of mine from time to time. Hell if nothing else, the hunger of their egos would make this a nailed on certainty. More nailed than a whale God with rare jewels for eyeballs, and bones crafted the calcified souls of super architects but let us get back to earth. Im straying too far from this post.
Can I just say, nay plead with the remains of a quickly greying youth to not be tricked into believing that a reboot/remake of American Ninja, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, They Live and Commando would be good idea. They won't, and you can take that to your overstuffed Century City banks (which if not careful will be remembered for the dosh they made rather than its art). Which would be a shame because while financial reward is itself very nice nothing will dim the glow of producing great work, be it movies, books or music.
Remakes might sound like goof idea, we all remember the glory glory years of the 1980s where it seemed most films were touched by gold but while we know a remake of something like Jaws would be awesome if we were able to capture that creative spark of 1975, we know (with a good del of sadness) that we never will. The most world's most famous shark is born, and attempting a reboot of such an iconic movie would be like mining for gold in a sugar field. Impossible.
Come on, we've seen enough remakes by now to realise that making them is disaster waiting to happen. Move on Hollywood, studios will be making remakes of remakes next (something that would surprise me not in the slightest). Mark my words: movie remakes only serve to dilute the magic of the original.

Here are some personal favourites of mine that ought be left well alone:

American Ninja
They Live
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Cobra
Point Break
Commando

Mess with these 80s cult classics at thy peril! In fact, better yet, don't mess with them at all. Ever. Lest the ghost of the late Steve James Cpl. Curis Jackson return to karate the movie directors.

Joan Rivers

As is customary these dys, the death of American comedienne Joan Rivers at the age of 81 was announced on Twitter like the mad, new town cryer that social meia has become. Chances are, if there's a story to be told, good and bad, then you'll rread it on Tweetville before BBC or CNN. Its the pulse of a new generation. Joan used it herself, she was one of the only few celebrities I follow on that site (gossip and bickering between two famous clowns isn't my idea of fun).
I will actually miss her Tweets partly because, much like myself, she spoke her mind, offend or please and I greatly admire that. Don't stab folk in the back, give them both barrels in the chest but im in danger of losing my thread of thought here so back to Joan. If you visit her Twitter page now, it lies eerily quiet, like that of late director Michael Winner (another famous Twitter user).
Words at end, reminding us about our oh so fragile mortality. Enjoy every passing minute, life is for the living.
I sent Ms Rivers a mesage via Twitter once. It was on her last birthday, and being a fan of older ladies, I remarked to her of how great she still looked despite being in her eigheieth year. Of course being a global star, having to deal with hundreds of people every day, I wasn't sad I didn't get a reply. Indeed looking back, if she did read it (and these people have egos the size of war ships), she probably thought I was 'trolling' and having a dig at her age.
Well Joanie, if you are able to read blogs from wherever it is you have departed to, know this: I wasn't kidding around, I genuinely thought you beautiful and a rare instance of plastic surgery actually working for a change. It turns most into melted gargoyles more fitting to sit on a cathedral tower than appear on a red carpet but Joan Rivers was different. God knows this planet needs more people unafraid to speak their mind.

Rest in peace Joan, I shall miss ya gorgeous x