Having looked through the updated AFI list there's actually 40 of the 100 that I've never seen ...
And in the list there's no Se7en , The Exorcist , The Omen , Carrie , Dressed To Kill , The Green Mile , Road To Perdition , Marathon Man , Rain Man , Alien 1 or 2 or Silence or the Lambs 2 or 3 , and only one James Cagney and only one Bette Davis movie !
And is Tootsie really funnier than Mrs Doubtfire ?
The ones I have'nt seen but would like to are To Kill a Mockingbird and Sophie's Choice .    (at least brokeback mountain was'nt in it )  .

Dreamaker by Renaissance , a largely forgotten 70's band , (c) HTD records (click twice on play to listen) .

(I Love You) , Stevie Wonder , (c) motown , 1968 , Great track ..

(click twice on play to hear) .

"Sex was invented as a biological instrument by the blue-green algae" :    Dr.Jacob Bronowski .

Sinead O'Connor , (c) Ensign Records / Chrysalis , 1992 .

This morning I listened to some of the repeated 'highlights' from Victoria Darbishire's R5live programme ; Heather Mills McCartney again and , yes , anyone stigmatised by tabloid newspapers will get anonymous 'death threats' , from one or two cowardly and  inadequate individuals , who'd be far too incompetent to carry that out even if they did dare to try to .
She amusingly referred to listeners texting / emailing critical comments about  her as " beatle nuts " , and made a comment , obviously referring to McCartney , about "someone who recorded a song for two seconds" ,  which would seem to prove the veracity of the notion that , having married the 'living legend' McCartney , the living embodiment of the legacy of the phenomenal Beatles , she just did'nt 'get' The Beatles at all .
It still seems to me that he married her out of loneliness and (amputee fetish ?) lust ,  that she married him  out of ambitious greed , and that they have little 'in common' ,  though of course I  could be  wrong .
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Then  , again the parents of Amy Winehouse and her husband (separately)   ;   I  have a 'soft spot' for 'damsels in distress' but  am fed up with hearing about  Amy Winehouse not wanting to help herself , which feels  sad and frustrating even for me and must be truly awful for those who know and love  her , or anyone with a similar addiction problem who does'nt want to get better badly enough .
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I'm glad my Mum persuaded me to go for a walk with her this morning ; sunny and mild and lots of adults , children and dogs on the beach .

I was surprised to hear  yesterday  that some men ( maybe women too , but on R5live they only spoke to men there) had been queueing for up to 3 days and  nights outside Kings College Cambridge Chapel , to get in to the annual Christmas Eve  boy choristers carol recital ..
Are they closeted paedophiles irresistably allured  to the 'angelic' choirboy image ?
Surely all Cathedral boys choirs are very good , so  what's so special about the Cambridge one , and , why can't Kings College  organise a ballot for tickets ,  to preclude  unwashed folk  who've waited overnight ?
I'm sure that if I was there I'd think , yeah this is quite nice , for 20 minutes before fidgetingly waiting for it to end .
But perhaps their combined voices are uniquely spiritually  pure ... ?
In my early - mid thirties I became quite evangelical about Classical music : And I love some of  it especially  Mozart , Brahms and Bruckner though I seldom listen to much of that  nowadays , and energetic 'dance music' seems to do more for me than any other genre , especially when I need 'waking up ' .
On 'Desert Island  Discs' recently Professor Sir Alec Jeffrey's , who discovered 'dna fingerprinting' said that he was introduced to Ibiza-style dance music by his daughter , and that he likes to listen to it whilst working .
I've been listening to KissFM  , who play a lot of what's now called 'R&B' , which is very different from what that used to mean and I used to  dismiss all that  as 'rap crap' , though I'm now finding that I quite like some of it , not that I'd buy it  .
I've read two 'blog entries here today written by depressed people , and there seems to be something about Christmas that seems to magnify however one's feeling , and it's easy to imagine that everyone else is having a great time which of course is sadly not so .

So I went to to the  Christmas Eve Karaoke Night , at which they stopped serving drinks well before midnight     .
No one was gawping at me as has inexplicably happened there before , and , no hint of anything troublesome .
I'd have been happy to have spent a little  time getting to know  almost  any of the ladies  there ; I briefly chatted with  one , who was I think  there   with her 'partner' .
I was sitting at one end of the bar . At the other end a lady was sat  alone , probably  older than me , and a smoker .
Like me she looked kind of unhappy and serious   though making an effort not to show it  , and she was being chatted up by another single man there .
A  young man was for 20 minutes or so leaning into me far  too closely and enduringly for that  to be accidental , and , though I'm definitely Not into the 'brokeback mountain' stuff  I'd  have   spoken to him if he'd spoken to me  .
So , it was , you know , okay , though  ultimately lonely and a waste of time and money  except that it got me out of the house for an evening . The only person there who I know was in the other bar .
Kauto Star  should easily win the Boxing Day King George race at Kempton , though  odds-on , or even evens about any steeplechaser is dubious  value .

'There it is' , by Shalamar , sounds like 'Ferret Ears'  ,
'Airport' , by The Motors sound like 'eff off'  ,
and I used to think that "we're caught in a trap..." from Elvis Presley's 'Suspicious Minds' was 'We're calling a tramp' , and that 'My simple Heart' by The Three Degree's was ' Bicycle Hut' .

Do you know of any other examples of easily mistaken lyrics ?

He did'nt go in it at all for months , now he's taken to it and spends hours each day there .
My camera takes such dark pictures indoors and in any low-light conditions .

My Father said he did'nt enjoy Christmas as a child , which seemed to make him determined to always feel gloomy at this time of year during his adult life  , though maybe that's  unfair .
I certainly remember tensions and arguments around several  , not all Christmas Day's .
I recall one particularly horrid Christmas alone , and , when  I teamed up with 'ex-partner' Julie I was aware that she and her ex-husband were babyishly sentimental  about christmas , which I'm not so I did'nt want to spoil it for her by neither especially liking or disliking it .
I've never fathered children , and I have no sisters or brothers so with no children around to make it magical for , and no friends to go to parties or drinks with ,  please forgive me if I'm not as thrilled about this time of year as some of you are .
Though it has some unhappy associations for me  it's not that I dislike  it , and not at all that I do'nt want others to enjoy it : I wish you all a lovely time .
I  recall  believing in Santa as a young child , and when I figured out the truth (!) , and I have one magical christmas memory of going to a candle-lit nativity play at  the school  I  later become a pupil of .
I think it was more when my adolescence kicked in , and  tensions between my late Father and I sadly worsened that christmas began to take on more negative associations for me .
I'm so  kind and / or stupid  that I even gave a lady I've occasionally alluded to here a little money for christmas - Well it'll  help to fund  a  nice  party for her and her friends .
There's Karaoke at the 'Kings Head' on christmas eve , whenever that is but last time I went there , not for the first time a few  of the regulars from the 'public bar' came out to gawp at me , I've no idea why 'cause I'm ordinairly presentable looking , I was'nt drunk or abnormal in any way , and that never happens to me anywhere else , so , 'go figure' ..
So it's my Mum and  Cat and I , and we'll do our best to make the most of Christmas and New Year .

So I'm wondering , should I venture to Thailand , where pretend-love is   ubiquitously and cheaply available ?
Not that I want to exploit , or be exploited by anyone , but I was reading that young women there , on account of it being a Buddhist country believe that making people happy brings them good fortune , in this life or the next .
And believe me or do'nt if I went there it would be more for friendly companionship , fun and tactile closeness than for any likelihood  of sex  , which I know is freely available there too , to the Western men who , I was reading that , many young ladies there see as their main 'support system' .
And I think I'm probably far less unattractive , and a much nicer person than are many of the men who travel there for that reason .
If I had plenty of money and a home of my own I'm sure I could find there a lady willing to marry me and move here ; I do'nt , so if I went it would have to just be to treat myself to an enjoyable , and hopefully confidence-building stay there .
Because I do'nt have the confidence to relaxedly approach people in pubs or bars in this country , especially not in this town .
In Thailand I would'nt need to , I'd be approached , and  I know  there are risks , for example of being drugged with rohypnol and having ones money stolen , but I'd endeavour to be on my guard and to take every sensible precaution .
But after getting to Heathrow , hanging about there then a very long 'economy'   flight   I'd probably feel exhausted when I finally got to the hotel , and then , just as I was starting to find my way around and enjoy myself it'd be time to come all the way back again ; maybe a mild sleeping tablet for the flight would help ..
Oh , and I forgot - The food , I can't take much if any spicy food , so another reason not to go ..
I do'nt know . . 
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People on this site are still discovering 'madam rhubarb's'  'blog , and saying 'can this person be for real ? '  ;   I was thinking it could be fun for a while to set up a 'spoof' 'blog somewhere , but then , psychologically , what might  pretending to be another character say about  whatever aspect of oneself that one was  drawn to finding expression for ?
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My cat , Leo , 14 months old , is  sleeping a lot more though he's  eating , washing , going out  , and  usually  purring when stroked so we think he's okay .

When I was a child my Mother instilled in me  : Never tell lies ...
Virtually every adult has at the very least told the occasional lie ..
My 'ex-partner' Julie's ex-husband was a compulsive liar , who did'nt believe in paying bills and who got them evicted from various places ..
Like anyone I have faults though I do'nt  count lack of truthfulness amongst them , although not that I'd normally take honesty into the realms of tactless  hurtfulness ..
Most people  tell lies as often as they deem necessary  , to oil the wheels of social intercourse  and to try to avoid awkward , unwanted situations without causing them .
And sometimes we do'nt reveal the truth when we probably rightfully should , or lie when we probably should'nt , for our own , selfless or selfish reasons .
My late Father once opined that the world would be a better place  if only we could all be straightforwardly truthful at all times .
An interesting notion , but surely too unrealistically idealistic to make for a harmonious society .
So the old chesnut : " Oh Yes Madam , I DO like your Hat ! " seems more justified than " I love only you " if that's not true , or " the cheque's in the post " if it is'nt , and is'nt likely to be .

The new lib-dem leader Nick Clegg seems full of energy and enthusiasm for his new role , and to be well informed about , and to know his position on all political issues , so nothing 'wishy-washy' about him then , and I wish him well .
I was a little surprised to hear him announce on 5live this morning that he's recruited Brian Eno to help advise him on ways to improve life for young people .
Whilst Brian Eno , who was born in 1948 may , in between composing his pretencious , unfathomable synthesiser music have some good ideas regarding policies affecting young people I hope his involvement is'nt a gimmick to try to attract 'the young' , as I doubt that  many under 25's will know who he is .
He was of course one of the founding members of the great 'Roxy Music' , from the very early 70's .

Oliver Twist : It's okay , a typical bbc drama in some ways , quite well done , though with the same slightly irritating music every few minutes and I'm unconvinced by Timothy Spall's Fagin , especially after Robert Lindsay's superb portrayal in the itv dramatisation  a
few years back .
Later  I watched a programme about ' the girlfriend experience' , a holiday package in Venezuela , run by a British man , for men , mostly 'older' men from the USA , Canada and Britain who can't get a youngish girlfriend , who go there and choose one of the ladies on offer (it costs $200 a day) to be their 'girlfriend' for the week or two that they're there , though between 10 - 12 each evening(or is it morning) they can swap her for a different woman there if they want to .
The idea is that the visitor and his 'girlfriend' are together for about 22 hours a day , she is expected to accommodate any reasonable sexual or other request , and the resort organise  tacky 'themed evenings' and parties .
The man who owns the place  says it's generally not very pleasant work for the girls and that he would'nt want to do it , though that they are 'looked after' to some extent and that any tourist causing  problems will be dealt with .
The women who work there seem not to mind so much the chatting , splashing about in the pool and accompanying the men when they want to explore the local area , but understandably they feel queasy about being expected to have sex with some of the unattractive men  , for example a hugely fat  50 +  Canadian man who was there , who at first seemed quite jolly , then , later , not so nice .
Of course the women do it for the money , sometimes to save for going to University , and in one case to pay for her Mother to have an operation .
Most of them are understandably cynical about the work , though one young lady there felt she was falling in love with her paying 'boyfriend' .
As a still somewhat 'shy' man I can see the attraction of the idea though I will not be trying it , and if I had a home of my own I might consider 'buying' a foreign 'bride' though that often does'nt work out and I think that'll be explored a bit in tonights programme at 10 on C4 .

It seems such a shame that Kieren Fallon , probably this planets most brilliantly talented flat-race jockey , following his  bans from riding in various  countries due to his recently collapsed race-fixing trial now reportedly faces a long worldwide ban for having tested positively for cocaine , and , as to whether cocaine would be likely to help or hinder his race riding abilities , having never tried it , or ridden racehorses I can't say .
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Why do women - Wives , girlfriends , mothers think they have the right to dispose of mens holy / holey / wholly  socks without asking ? -
I like to be presentable but so far as socks are concerned if they're wearable I'll wear them .
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I've had my first shopping delivery from Asda and I must say that's better value than tesco's ; A £4  ,  or  £5   delivery charge , better value all round for most food and drink + toilet rolls etc . ,  and , they say that if something you've ordered is unavailable they'll try to substitute it with a more expensive , 'superior' product at no extra charge .

Why do many schools ban parents from taking photo's of , or videoing their young children in Nativity plays ?
A Father was talking about that on R5live this morning : His child's school were so concerned about it that , although there's no law against the taking of photo's there , they had a policeman and two CSO's in attendance .
We all know that paedophiles exist , and we can probably understand  parents not  wanting anyone else photographing their children at a swimming pool or beach , but  re. an Infants School Nativity play attended by parents that makes no sense to me , and perhaps because one school once brought in that rule , many others feel they have to follow suit to demonstrate their committment to the safety of their pupils , but it just seems really daft .
With some schools there's also a possible financial incentive , if they photograph and / or video the occasion then sell the pictures or video to parents . As the man on the radio this morning said , if parents are not to be trusted in that way then why should the school be .
Maybe someone knows of a legitimate reason for such a ruling , I can't think of one .

With apologies to Spice Girls fans for my having erroneously said they had'nt recorded anything new for their re-union , click twice on play to hear Emma Bunton's 'I'll be there' (c) polydor / universal , which I must admit that I much prefer to any of the spice girls tracks .

Correction to below post : The Spice girls  HAVE  released a new single .
Just woken  on this fine morning and thought ,  Why the hell have the 'spice girls' not recorded anything new  to  coincide with their  reunion tour  , and with the christmas party season / 'christmas number 1' market ?
They could at least have got someone to do a dance mix of one of their old hits , but not even that ...
They are still quite young and it's only nine years later . How  lazy and cynical  their touring without having bothered to record anything  new seems , and yet , 20,000 turned out to see them at the o2 arena last night , so , okay ,  they did'nt need to bother .

On tonights local news , Cambridgeshire Police have released excerpts of some bizarre 999 calls , including from a woman saying " I want to speak to the Prime Minister , just to send him my good wishes and to tell him he's a lovely chap "    ( ...  err ... yeah ... right ... )
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I've just watched the Channel 4 programme 'Being Maxine Carr' : As most of you know she was the cohabiting girlfriend of Soham Murderer (of two young girls) Ian Huntley , who was tried with him and served 17 months imprisonment for perverting the cause of justice because when he came under suspicion she initially lied to the police , saying she was with him on the evening of the girls disappearance , when she was I think staying with her Mother , and was snogging another man in a night-club .
So she says because  Huntley is  manipulative , cunning and controlling , and  convinced her that he had nothing to do with the girls disappearances , and feared that the police were trying to 'fit him up' .
After serving her sentence , when  it became evident that Maxine Carr was in danger of being attacked  a court injunction to protect her anonymity was issued , and unsuccessfully challenged by national tabloid newspapers nine months after her release .
The programme featured three women , none of whom resemble the photo's of M / Carr ,  who in different areas of the UK have had gangs of men hanging round their homes threatening them , throwing bricks through their windows and doors , and one of them was physically attacked  , because of false rumours that they were M / Carr . All three of them had to leave their homes , and one of them was driven to take an overdose .
A tabloid newspaper journalist said on the programme that M / Carr deserves that " because of what she did " .
As , I suppose , does anyone who anyone says might be her ...
The Soham case was upsetting . We all so hoped that Holly and Jessica would somehow turn up alive and well . I remember the newsflash that their bodies had been found during Channel 4 Racing from Newmarket , which is not so far from Soham .
But Maxine Carr was Not There when the murders took place , and there is  no evidence that she did anything other than stupidly lying presumably because Huntley convinced her that he had nothing to do with it .
And I HATE , Oh How I HATE the expression , quoted in the programme , "there's no smoke without fire"    ,     that means ANYONE can accuse ANYONE of ANYTHING , = it must be true .
Here in the UK we pride ourselves on being a so much more civilised people than are for example the people of Sudan , where british schoolteacher Mrs . Gibbons was accused of insulting Islam re . the teddy bear , etc ...
But there's a nasty , vengeful , stupid element in probably every society that yearns for a scapegoat to feel justified in hating , threatening , attacking , because they enjoy that .
The only difference is that here that's not officially encouraged of tolerated - Except , tacitly , by some popular newspapers , whose editors know that they can sell more copies by demonising not only people convicted of hideous crimes  but also anyone associated with them who they decide to serve up to their readers as hate objects .

The entire BBC Look East regional news progmamme tonight was from Gdansk , Poland , on the subject of Poles coming to live and work in this UK region .
Admittedly in the early part of the programme they featured a schoolteacher saying  the increasing number of Polish pupils does present challenges , and a young british couple saying that all the unskilled jobs go to immigrants .
But then it was all romantic Chopin piano music to lull us all into thinking that eastern europeans and their coming here is all lovely , and a scene of a polish man going home to be greeted on the stairs by his young daughter , with kissing sounds dubbed on to the soundtrack .
I've nothing against natives of any country , and I do'nt blame citizens of countries economically half-ruined by former communism from coming here to earn more money .
The main 'raison'd'etre' of all British political parties who have MP's in parliment seems to be  to avoid at all costs any possible accusations  of 'racism' ( aside  from Brownie's peculiar 'british jobs for british workers' moronic , empty slogan  , but then he is slightly odd ) , therefore  keep allowing our population to expand through more and more immigration , never mind the social and economic cost , and , no it's not at 'crisis point' yet but  in 10 , 20 , 40 etc years time the obnoxious 'BNP' could  be edging towards acheiving real political power  .
I'm sure that most immigrants are decent people but I object to how honest debates about immigration are discouraged , and television licence payers have to fund sickly propagandist projects like the one earlier .

A caller to today's Jeremy Vine  Radio 2 programme  , a muslim gentleman , on the subject of a form of torture known as 'waterboarding' - which essentially simulates drowning , causing panic and extreme discomfort and distress , and supposedly  no physical damage though that's open to question - favoured by CIA interrogators of terrorist suspects , said that makes it " difficult for liberal minded muslims to defend western civilisation . "
In which case I hope that  ' liberal ' muslims feel  at least equally at odds with the governments of Islamic countries who routinely torture prisoners and suspects often in ways that unequivocally do cause physical harm .
As has happened to terror-suspects 'renditioned' by the CIA to be tortured in countries such as Afghanistan , Egypt and Morocco .
'They' ('un-westernised'  Muslims) tend to view 'Us' (non - muslims) as wickedly  decadent and materialistic .
'We' , though we want to be able to respect different religions see  'hardline' Islamic regimes as crazy , bonkers , evil  and  stuck in the 'dark ages' , for example the 40 women this year who in Basra alone have been abducted in the streets and murdered for such allegeged crimes as  not  covering their faces in public , or  for wearing make-up , by an extremist 'militia' who 'we' - the British forces now withdrawing from there  -  seem to have done some 'deal' with , in which case , what the hell was the point of us being there in the first place , or of the death of the 41 British military personnel killed in Iraq so far this year alone ?
And yes there are appalling crimes committed by indigenous British citizens , including some 'hate' attacks on Muslims , Jews and others , but at least they are  regarded as serious crimes  , and  rightly deplored by the overwhelming majority of us .
It is where 'hate crimes' , or 'hateful'  acts  intellectually  justified religiously or politically are officially tolerated , probably encouraged that evil flourishes because , for every sensible , humane , moral person who refuses to go along with that there'll be another who will rather enjoy  feeling   officially  justified in hating or  attacking others .
As for officially sanctioned torture , I rather think that in the hypothetical case of someone admitting to knowing where a bomb has been planted , which will kill and maim many innocent people but refusing to divulge where it  is  that  has to be theoretically justifiable .
But give people 'free rein' to attack , bully and degrade others , whether in ostensibly 'civilised' or 'uncivilised' societies  and  what you get is power-intoxicated savagery and sadism .
As we have seen for example in Nazi Germany , in Abu Ghraibh prison - first under Saddam Hussein's regime and then under the American's , or under hardline supposedly religious rule , and in far too many other times and places in history .

Just watched again 'Hannibal' (silence of the lambs 3 , or 4 including the feeble prequel) , which after seeing it at a cinema I swore 'never again' ,  but aside from an all too  disturbing scene near the end is such a classy , beautifully produced affair , with two haunting musical pieces by Patrick Cassidy : a gorgeous Mahlerian-style  adagietto , full of tragic yearning and foreboding , and a beautiful renaissance - style choral piece .
And am nearing the end of Peter James's  'not dead enough' , a fascinating , teasing , unpredictable novel that keeps you guessing .
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Leo (cat) today suddenly took to his hooded , fur-lined bed that I bought him some months ago .*******

U2 : From The Joshua Tree , which , for it's 20th aniversary is now re-issued , remastered , with 2 extra tracks , which I'd be thrilled to get for christmas : (c) Island Records Ltd ....
- Is'nt the Led Zeppelin re-union gig tonight ? - Of course I like some of their stuff from 25 - 30 years ago , though 20 + minute guitar solo's are'nt much to my taste and I'd infinitely rather see U2 , which , during their next tour ( 2009 ? ) I intend to , anywhere in europe that I can get a ticket for , and even if I do have to go alone .