Ghosts – Michael Jackson’s Forgotten Masterpiece…

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Yeah, time certainly does fly. It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire decade since Michael Jackson died – June 25th, 2009.

Controversy aside, Jackson is one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. You certainly don’t have to like his music, but you do have to respect the reach of his sound, his choreography, and his style. He is – in the true sense of the word – iconic.

Everyone can hum the tune to Billie Jean or Beat It along with many others, and because music is released less traditionally these days, Thriller will forever be the best-selling album of all time. This was helped in no small way by the title track – the music video for which is still, pound for pound, arguably the greatest one ever produced.

But here, on the tenth anniversary of his death, I would like to highlight a Michael Jackson master stroke that I don’t think ever got the attention it deserved.

Ghosts was released in 1996 as a special limited edition box which I bought as soon as it was in the shops. It was a long time after his heyday, but Michael Jackson was always a draw, so I thought this was going to be a big deal… except, it really wasn’t.

included in this deluxe collector’s edition was the remix album, Blood on the Dancefloor on CD, and the CD single On the Line. It also came with a glossy theatre-style programme for the main attraction, which was very nice…

…and the main attraction here was Ghosts itself, an extremely elaborate music video that clocks in at just under forty minutes. It was effectively a new take on what Jackson had achieved a decade and a half earlier with Thriller, and in many ways he was trying to recapture that old glory. There’s a little more of a focus on story this time around, and there are a few songs that help to fill the running time.

Of course, being 1996 this was packaged on VHS, and has not since been officially released on any other format. For what it’s worth, I still have my copy tucked away in the garage in case one day it’s worth a fortune.

Ghosts is actually pretty hard to come by in this modern, digital age, but it is floating around online. Check it out and let me know what you think.

What I’ve Done This Week #24…

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I have chosen my poison: I am going to leave all my other unfinished projects on the sidelines for the time being and throw myself into my suspense tale, Flowers for Someone Else.

This will likely be my written project for the foreseeable future – until I get sidetracked, of course – and it will possibly see me though until we go away on our theme park trip in the middle of July… although I hope to have it cracked by then.

I have got a very robust foundation here, and it is just as likely that I will find the finish line in a few days as it is to elude me for a few weeks. It’s difficult to tell. I know the destination; it’s just getting there with intelligence and sophistication that presents the hurdles.

I have over 1000 words (most of which are even pretty good), and it feels like the kind of story that really should not go on much beyond double that length. These kind of pieces are delicate acts of balance, and the longer they go on the more you’re fighting that pesky law of diminishing returns.

Potted Film Review: Toy Story 4 (2019)

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Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Keanu Reeves

Toy_Story_4_posterWhat’s it all about?
As per the events of Toy Story 3, Woody and the rest of the gang now live with Bonnie, but she is about to begin kindergarten and Woody is concerned that the experience will be difficult for her. It is here that we are introduced to the newest character – Forky, a suicidal plastic spork whom Bonnie adores.

While Woody is encouraging Forky to integrate himself with the group, he lays everything down to find an old friend who has been lost for years. His selfishness results in Forky being kidnapped, and – with the help of some new faces – Woody needs to devise a plan to rescue him in order to bring him back to Bonnie.

The final act – which I will not spoil here – is an emotional ride in which you will not only forget these are toys, but that this whole thing has been computer generated. These characters prove once again that nobody does animated heart and soul quite like Pixar.

Watching it with the kids…
As with all the Toy Story movies (and everything that Pixar does) this is superficially for children, but there’s always a deeper theme aimed at adults.

Verdict…
It takes a lot to elicit an emotional response from me at the cinema, so bravo to the writers, animators, and performers of Toy Story 4. It’s a great movie, but is it the best iteration of Pixar’s flagship series? I don’t think so. It has a similar feel to the third entry, and – although Woody has always been the main star – here he takes up more screen time than ever before, at the expense of everyone else that we have come to know and love. It’s absolutely fine, but it sometimes feels more like a solo spin-off movie than a true ensemble sequel.

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Eagles, Chapter II – Desperado (1973)

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Members: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner

Desperado is the only studio release in the catalogue of the Eagles that was conceived as a concept album, and that fact alone could have meant this second offering was also their last.

It is the difficult second album – the one that has made many artists and broken so many more. Desperado shows the confidence of the Eagles to take their sound in a different direction, and the skill to do so without seeming like they are  just trying to find a new audience.

Doolin-Dalton (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / JD Souther / Jackson Browne)
Leads – Frey & Henley
From the evocative opening mouth organ, this is a great scene-setter that tells a good story. One of their finest album-only tracks. 8

Twenty-One (Bernie Leadon)
Lead – Leadon
Not one of my favourites, but it’s upbeat, very short, and the country sound is more reminiscent of their debut album than anything they would produce in later years. 5

Out of Control (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / Tom Nixon)
Lead – Frey
Probably the hardest vocal Frey ever laid down for the Eagles, on top of a drum-heavy track. The title is apropos, because at times this feels more like a jamming session than a song the Eagles released. 6

Tequila Sunrise (Don Henley / Glenn Frey)
Lead – Frey
This is an Eagles staple, but I have always found this song to be a little overrated, probably because it is played so damn often. Not a bad song – the Eagles don’t really do those – but far from their best effort. 6

Desperado (Don Henley / Glenn Frey)
Lead – Henley
This is another familiar number, even to the casual ear. It is also one of the best songs that came out of the Henley/Frey writing partnership, and one of a handful of tracks that is synonymous with the band. It’s hard to hear anybody other than Don Henley singing this one. 9

Certain Kind of Fool (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / Randy Meisner)
Lead – Meisner
This is Meisner’s only vocal lead on this album, but this is his finest hour. He always sounds good, but he connects here with every line and he sounds great. 9

Doolin-Dalton (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / JD Souther / Jackson Browne)
instrumental
It’s difficult to judge this as it’s an extremely brief banjo interlude that segues beautifully into…

Outlaw Man (David Blue)
Lead – Frey
…Frey’s best song on the album. I still think that Glenn’s voice is more suited to something in a softer genre, but his work on the first two albums suggest he wants a rougher edge to his tunes. 7

Saturday Night (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / Randy Meisner / Bernie Leadon)
Lead – Henley
This Spanish-infused song is the only one credited to the original four members of the band, and it has grown on me over the years. I never used to get it, but I have learned to appreciate it over the years. 7

Bitter Creek (Bernie Leadon)
Lead – Leadon
A good song, and a very good fit for Leadon’s voice. The track keeps hinting that it wants to go somewhere else, but it never does. 7

Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (reprise) (Don Henley / Glenn Frey / JD Souther / Jackson Browne)
Lead – Henley
I like Doolin-Dalton and I like Desperado. Individually they are excellent songs. So together they must be amazing, right? Well… not really. It’s a case of the whole not being as great as the sum of its parts. Stilll good, but this mash-up is not as strong an end credit sequence as I had hoped for. 7

Overall: 71%
This could have ended up all kinds of wrong, but instead, Desperado is a definite improvement over their debut album. At least a couple of the songs on offer are right there in the conversation for the best tracks that the Eagles ever released.

Potted Film Review: 9 to 5 (1980)

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Starring: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton

What’s it all about?
Judy (sheepishly played by Jane Fonda) is the new addition to a sexist office in which Violet (played by Lily Tomlin) is the highest ranking woman. Doralee (Dolly Parton in her most famous role) is the stereotypical blonde secretary who is objectified and leered over by the boss (eighties comedy bad guy, Dabney Coleman).

When Violet is passed over for a promotion – primarily because she is a woman – she decides enough is enough. Along with the other two girls they get drunk and stoned, and they each fantasise about ways in which to off their boss…

…and it’s here that 9 to 5 gets a little crazy. Although the movie lays out its intention from the beginning and doesn’t pretend to be anything deeper than it is, it moves from a fairly straight comedy to surreal farce in short order, and just as it’s time to wrap things up, it’s hard to take any of it seriously at all.

Watching it with the kids…
This is a cheeky comedy, which feels like a reduced fat version of a Carry On movie, and there’s nothing in here that you wouldn’t find in one of those.

Verdict…
9 to 5 is certainly not the movie I had expected, but it is a time capsule – a love letter to a period of history that just isn’t around anymore. In 1980 I’m sure this was seen as progressive, but the current generation will probably find it difficult to watch in 2019, given their sensitivity when it comes to workplace equality… and their inability to take any sort of humour from topics as serious as sexism and misogyny. But take it as the light-hearted romp it is, and it’s a fun trip.

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What I’ve Done This Week #23…

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I have four new stories in progress that I would like to knock out this year, all of which I have mentioned here at one time or another. If I manage to finish all four I’ll be very happy, but I’ll probably settle for any two.

I last mentioned Scream, Pause, Play here in March, and it is perhaps the darkest and most ambitious of the items I have on my books. Although I have only written 600 words, it’s fairly well mapped out. I just have to put it all together.

Flowers for Someone Else (yes, it’s a new title) was coming along quite well in the early part of the year, but I set it aside in April when Jack and his buddy Patrick kept vying for my attention. It is sitting at 900 words, and I would say it is the most likely to see completion first.

Talking in the Fourth has also been absent from my playlist since March. This really started life as a throwaway couple of sentences that I didn’t have a place for. Sometimes that’s how a story comes together. Now I have over 1000 words and a good idea to back it up.

The 07:43 to Blackford Station has been MIA since February. It’s hovering just under 4000 words, which is quite deep into it for me not to have just knuckled down and figured the rest of it out. But I don’t think it’s there yet, and in a way, it still has the furthest to go before it sees the finish line. I may still have this one lurking when 2020 rolls in.

It’s certainly nice to have options.

The Sadness Never Leaves…

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thumbnail_DSC_0231My grandad died in 2008, just after Christmas. Had he been alive he would have been 90 today. Although I wish he had been around longer – was still here now – there’s a corner of my heart that’s glad he wasn’t here to see me mess things up a few years ago. I know he would have been disappointed in me.

But the last time we saw each other – on Christmas Eve that year – I was happy and in a good place. I was moving forward with my life and trying to make my mark in this world. When he passed away a few days later, I know it is that memory of me he took with him, and I can find consolation in that fact.

I think about my grandad a lot, partly because there are only a few of us left to keep his memory alive. My grandma is still here – she will be 95 this year – but she’s in a care home and her memory is in and out, even on her best day. I don’t think she remembers him beyond a vague recollection of his name and connection to her buried somewhere in her mind.

But it’s mostly because I miss him, and his words of advice, even if most of the time I pretended not to listen or outright discarded whatever he told me as old-fashioned and not really appropriate for my generation. What did he know about being young anyway? But we all do that: we all think we know better than those who came before us.

My grandad was a strong and proud man who knew how to cry but very rarely did. He was staunchly Labour, and was the only person who ever made politics interesting for me. He liked to dress smartly, whether the occasion called for it or not, and he never owned or even wore a t-shirt. He hated the tattoos on his forearms and hands, that he had got while stationed in Singapore as a teenager, but refused to have them removed as a reminder that alcohol and needles don’t mix.

He enjoyed the long walks we would take on Saturdays when I was a child; and I loved listening to him tell stories about the places we passed, and how it had all been fields when he was my age.

I sometimes catch myself looking at places now – watching office blocks or student flats as they rise out of nothing – and I think about my grandad.

I’ve turned my life around, grandad, and I wish you could see me now because I’m happy again. I can still feel your influence on the things that I do, and the decisions I make, so I hope you’re proud of the grandson you helped to mould. I know I am far from perfect, and all the mistakes I have made are my own, but a lot of the goodness I credit to you, and the example you set for me.

So happy 90th birthday, grandad. I miss you every day.

Porn Stars and Blowjobs…

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I don’t go out drinking very often, and I don’t drink all that much when I do. My days of getting myself tarted up and looking forward to what Saturday night brings (and potentially Sunday morning) are well in my past.

Today, I went out with a bunch of work colleagues for my first mixology class. Three cocktails, a couple of shots, and some finger food afterwards to soak up the booze.

It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I did it, but because we started mid-afternoon I was quite merry by dinner time, and I was on the bus home with the sun warming my back.

I just don’t enjoy it much anymore. Nothing good ever comes from the consumption of alcohol. All you’re left with at the end of the night is a sore head and an empty wallet.

I Sense a Theme Here…

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In one month The Girlfriend© and I will be driving down south for a fun-filled four days in England. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us.

After we had narrowed down the list of parks and attractions from an initial collection of ten, the trip was all decided upon very quickly, and the rest just fell into place almost overnight. We’ll probably get to the other seven places on the list some day, but for now we’re taking in Drayton Manor, Alton Towers, and Chester Zoo – all places that I have never visited, and probably ones that should be on the bucket list of every British person who enjoys theme parks and animals behind bars.

I tried to find a way for us to do all this while also leaving her daughter at home, but there does not appear to be any conceivable way for us to do that. At approximately seven hours to reach our base, it’s a lengthy journey, so I’m just going to have to take ear plugs and a shitload of sleeping tablets instead.

Potted Retro Film Review: 50 First Dates (2004)

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Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider

717E8WX+wCL._SX425_What’s it all about?
Adam Sandler is Henry, a marine vet in Hawaii who loves the ladies. He meets Lucy (played by Drew Barrymore), and instantly takes a shine to her. He soon discovers that she was in a car accident the previous year, resulting in her inability to retain any new information, thus, forcing her to relive the same day over and over.

Prior to this outing, Sandler and Barrymore had worked together in The Wedding Singer, and they would do so after this in Blended, so there is obviously some chemistry between them.

50 First Dates is basically Groundhog Day as seen from a different perspective… and with a subject who doesn’t know it’s happening to them, as we watch Henry try to win Lucy’s heart in a different way every day.

Watching it with the kids…
This movie falls at about the same level you would expect from a rom-com. If anything, it’s quite mild, with only a hint of sexual suggestion to go along with the tame language. Nothing to worry about then.

Verdict…
The basic premise is a clever twist on the extremely formulaic rom-com genre, so it gets points for that, but the first half of the movie – when Henry is pursuing an oblivious Lucy – is a lot more enjoyable than once she begins to get a grasp on what has been happening.

Rob Schneider plays Henry’s best friend Ula, and in typical Rob Schneider fashion he drags this movie down. It’s a shame because 50 First Dates would be much better without him in it – with almost anyone else in his place. Unfotunately, that’s the movie we’re left with. It’s still fun, but this had potential for more.

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