The Oscars & Politics .

Well the Oscars were held Sunday night in Los Angeles and they didn’t really differ from what has gone before  even with the “me too” movement active since Harvey Wenstein exposure as a predator of women. The films were different obviously , however I noticed that Gary Oldman got Best Actor for “Darkest Hour” a portrayal of Winston Churchill in the early part of the World War 2.

Well now not being a fan of Winston Churchill (or British history in general) since he along with Lloyd George forced the partition of Ireland in 1921/1922. Churchill was somewhat of a war monger and refused numerous peace offers through out the war. Churchill seemed to very confident of the allies winning the World war 2 and often wonder why.

Anyway back to the films, a few years ago Michael Fassbender did a  portrayal of Bobby Sands in the movie “Hunger” despite winning some awards for Fassbender’s powerful depiction of Sands during the hunger strike it was deemed too political for Hollywood and the Brits largely stymied the film. it seems that portraying a War mongering British pm is however acceptable. Suppose that people can make their own mind up.

Freddie Scappaticci aka “Stakeknife” arrested in England.

In the news is that one Freddie Scappaticci also know as “Stakeknife” has been arrested by British Police at a undisclosed location. The past activities of the man are also under investigation by Chief constable Jon Boutcher and his squad. “Stakeknife” is believed to be involved in up to fifty killings with some at the behest of his handlers in British intelligence and others just to cover up for himself. He is believed to be a high level (but not the highest) informer in the I.R.A for the British army. He was “outed” as a tout by “Martin Ingram” and Greg Harkin in their book “Stakeknife” and quickly fled Belfast despite initial denials. It would seem that the Brits have given him up but its unlikely that they will allow the goings of British intelligence to be aired. Despite this it will be interesting to watch.

Image result for stakeknife book

Joanne Hayes receives State apology after over thirty year wait.

The state has made an apology to one Joanne Hayes who has made the news before, back in the eighties. Miss Hayes was accused of killing a baby boy 5 days old who was found on a Cahersiveen beach with 42 stab wounds, later called “baby John” by the undertakers. Tests would prove that Joanne was not the mother of “baby John” but Gardai were pretty determined she was the one responsible at the time. A tribunal was formed to investigate the goings on of the Gardai but Miss Hayes had reason to feel she was on trial, I remember reports of her sobbing in the witness box and accusations that of lively banter in the Dublin pubs at night. What does one make of this ? and the lengthy time it took the state to own up and admit they made a mistake. Maybe the incident is put to rest for Miss Hayes, only time will tell, could do with a state apology myself re 2fm Colm & Jim Jim.

Lighting Strikes, no dial tone and internet down.

Have been offline for a while, all down to a lighting strike which happened at 3 am in the morning. There was a pretty loud thunder clap and a flash of light at the window, bang and then no power, no phone. Just turned over and went to sleep. Well it took over a week for the phone line to be fixed, seemingly the lighting struck in two places and had even burned the poles. Powerful stuff indeed, always amazed at how much we are at the mercy of nature for our survival. Our technology can go just like that, nothing permanent about it. Sometimes i wonder what we would/could live without and what we must have. Just a thought.

Singer Dolores Ó Riordan dies.

Singer Dolores Ó Riordan has passed away after being found dead in London, cause of death is unclear as yet. Dolores and her group the Cranberries were famous in the 90’s with such songs as Linger, Dreams and Zombie. It has said that they were the second biggest group to come out of Ireland after U2 but the Limerick band did pretty well for themselves. Dolores was the mother of 3 and had divorced from her husband.

RIP

 

Ooh No !!, yes another Star Wars The Last Jedi Review

Somehow I would gather that people are blue in the face from the all publicity this film has got and its only out since last Friday (15th December). Went to see this Monday evening at the Omniplex at the Crescent shopping center and was not impressed by what I saw. I wasn’t too impressed by the previous episode “The Force Awakens”, so was not in a queue for this film in particular. Hey what the heck given all the publicity and hype and the “rave” reviews given to it by film critics, had to go see it. Well what I think is that the film has very much recycled the plot of the “Empire Strikes Back”. The beginning of the Last Jedi is a total lift of the rebels escape from the Ice planet Hoth in the “Empire Strikes Back”.

The last Jedi borrows a lot from previous films and its not at all original. The film is very “PC” lots of women, black and Asian actors to the point where they become noticeable and detracts from the film a lot especially the “Empire” or “First Order”. “Luke Skywalker”  is back as a very grumpy Jedi Master who lives on a Island, promises to train “Rey” but doesn’t, the part doesn’t suit Mark Hamill “Luke Skywalker” very well. Snoke, Kylo Ren and General Hux don’t make it as baddies. The whole film looked like a terrible remake, with having no plot to tell basically. No need to make any more Star Wars films I think.

Here is the Irish Times on Star Wars The Last Jedi

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/star-wars-the-last-jedi-review-boring-bloated-and-confusing-1.3324286