Ode To Adam Fresco

He wouldn’t let us eat him, or drink him during break

He never let us beat him, or bake him in a cake

But never once did we wish to cut off his legs

Or impale him on a stick

We wouldn’t dream of killing him, for fear of making him sick

He taught us how to act, had passion for plays

Knew all about the theatre, made us crave the stage

I think he understood us, like great teachers only could

And I think we understood him, like only mothers could

Now Adam’s in New Zealand, doing all of the same things

Encouraging students writing

And inspiring all their dreams.

White!

(I wrote this at age 27, when I discovered my hair was going grey, or more to the point, white).

Help! Isn’t there a pill I can take, a book I can read, a cream I can put on? No-one warned me about this, no-one told me how it would make me feel, the colour so bright, so dazzling white, like a beacon stretching for miles in the night. Why didn’t anyone tell me, that it would be resistant to dye, resistant to just about anything? This new hair colour has super strength.

It’s impervious

Impenetrable

Conspicious

I’m getting old. What do I do, keeping dying my hair, with super dye, every month, so that the little bastards can’t get through? Have to keep chasing the follicle from now on. Did I worry so much? I’ve got white hair, pigment is AWOL, lost, gone on strike. Help!

Of course, I don’t feel the same now, twenty years later. I’m matured , so it hardly matters. To be honest, I don’t really care now but I cared then. I can always dye it blue…or green or tawny brown but the main thing is, I’ve realised that grey hair and white hair look gorgeous too. I know that now. I’ve seen women who wear it extremely well, but more than that, they are confident in their own skin. It feels good/relieving to look back on things that upset me when I was younger, understand why, and realise that they don’t upset me anymore.

Snowflake

I know a snowflake, pitter patter snow

Gets easily offended, by everyone I know

Sensitive as flowers, in the blazing sun

Trampled underneath, never having fun.

I know a snowflake, will take you to the brink

Delicate like crystal, not as special as they think

Selfish, selfish, selfish, anything but wise

Feels entitled to a lot of praise, and don’t dare you criticize

Be the ‘best version’ of yourself, Is the snowflake’s cry

Never ever people please and don’t eat humble pie

Can’t see the wood for the trees, so taken up with woes

You are wrong and they are right, I think that’s how it goes

Politically correct, they’ll do it just to spite

And if you have a different view, they’ll scream and stomp and bite

Two meanings to the word, like the ‘special’ of old

Which can mean the opposite, of what we are told

If someone was called ‘special’, back in older days,

It could mean different things, it could go different ways.

We are all unique, and burn with different flames

Cut from the same cloth, but our clothes are not the same

But by labelling people, as we go,

It can sometimes help to make it so

I know a snowflake, now who could it be?

What did you just say, the snowflake’s me?

I’m offended!

Blessed By Books

I’ve got four books on the go at the moment. I’m currently reading at various times of the day;

  1. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (I like to read this one late at night. I love Nick Carraway’s casual yet intense observations and the theme of obsessive love)
  2. Gather Together In My Name – Maya Angelou (Unputdownable for the most part and effortless reading. She has led such a full life)
  3. Star Trek First Contact – J.M Dillard (Interesting , character driven, lighter reading for the mornings, when I need to relax)
  4. The Brothers Karamazov – Dostoyevsky – Vol. 2 – (I haven’t read Vol. 1 and it starts at page 383, but it’s dark, tense and suspenseful. It also makes me wonder how many times can you drink to Russia? It seems, infinitely).

I don’t usually have so many books on the go at the same time. It’s usually just one or two, but lately, I am blessed by finding great little bookshops in unexpected places and being able to buy some wonderful books. This month, I’m feeling blessed by books.

Quote Of The Week

‘How extraordinary. I have known Prince Philip all these years. I did not know he had a guilty secret. He likes poetry. Poor man. How dreadful.’

-The Queen Mother discovering that Prince Philip likes poetry. From Backstairs Billy: The life Of William Tallon by Tom Quinn

Celebrating The Life of…Ray Harryhausen

After seeing King Kong (1933) Ray Harryhausen was inspired to experiment with and develop his own unique stop motion animation called Dynamation. He joined forces with model maker and animator Willis O’Brien, to bring his own unique creatures to life. He took art and sculpture classes at this time and also made life long friends with the writer Ray Bradbury.

‘Evolution of the World’ was one of the first demo reels he produced featuring fighting dinosaurs. His first animation job was on George Pal’s Puppetoon shorts.

Ray served in the U.S.A Special Services Division during World War 2. He made documentary shorts on the use of military equipment. After the war, he made a series of fairytale shorts, which he called his ‘teething rings’. His father worked the armatures of the models, while his mother assisted with little costumes for his animated characters.

In 1947, he was hired as assistant animator on Mighty Joe Young (1949) and then on ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’ as main animator. The film was a major international box office hit for Warner Brothers. Ray worked with producer Charles H. Schneer on Columbia Pictures and made ‘It Came From Beneath The Sea’ (1955) featuring a giant octupus. This was followed by the extra terrestrial invasion film, ‘The Earth vs The Flying Saucers’. After ’20 Million Miles To Earth,’ he began working with colour film to make ‘The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad’. It was the top grossing film of that year.

The 60’s saw the release of ‘Mysterious Island’ and ‘Jason and the Argonauts.’ After the success of ‘One Million Years B.C‘, Sinbad was to raise his handsome head again, in ‘The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad‘ and ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.’ Both films were box office hits.

His last major motion picture was ‘Clash of the Titans.’ (1981) which was nominated for a special effects award. ‘The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare’ was originally undertaken in the 1950’s and finally finished in 2002. It won an award for best short film.

At 90 years old, Ray was given a special tribute hosted by John Landis, where he was presented with a BAFTA award by Peter Jackson. Steven Spielberg and James Cameron are among the many movie directors who have cited him as an enormous influence and inspiration. George Lucas said that without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars.

Harryhausen founded the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a joint UK/ US charity, which perserves his collections and promotes the art of stop motion animation. John Walsh, a BAFTA nominated filmaker is a trustee of the foundation. He is also interested in developing Ray’s lost film projects and runs a podcast dedicated to him.

One of my favourite dynamation films is ‘The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad’ featuring Tom Baker, who plays an evil sorcerer. It was so memorable seeing ‘Clash of The Titans‘, in the cinema when I was eleven. The scene at the end with Medusa was very powerful and dramatic.

Ray brightened up my childhood with his unique fantasy movies. I have most of them and watch them regulary. I find them as magical and as exciting today as I did when I was a kid. As Tom Hanks says, ‘Some people say Casablanca’ or ‘Citizen Kane’, I say, Jason and the Argonauts’ is the greatest film ever made. ‘