The Classics - Flashman

Brigadier-General Sir Harry Flashman VC KCB KCIE was Victorian Britain's greatest Hero. Despite being expelled from Rugby School for drunkenness, an event that Thomas Hughes recounted in Tom Brown's Schooldays, Sir Harry turned his life around. Commissioned into the 11th Light Dragoons in 1840, Sir Harry served with distinction from the retreat from Kabul in 1842, charged with both the Light and Heavy Brigades at the Battle of Balaclava, won his VC for his actions in the Indian Mutiny, fought on both sides of the American Civil War and on battlefields from China to South Africa.

The Classics - The Count of Monte Cristo

So a while ago, due to a lack of anything new to read, I decided to go back and read the things I'd always wanted to, but lacked the inclination too at the time. So in this first, undoubtedly incredibly irregular series, we look at a book I truly wished I'd taken on 25 years ago, Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.

Matthew Bone11 June 2015Comment

Violence and Me

Let’s be honest, I watch a lot of crap. Most of it not overly gratifying, the majority of it cartoonish in its characterisations and all of it nothing more than a distraction. Normally, a shoot-out, beat down or juicy murder to get the plot rolling never really fazed me in any way. But over the last little while, a few things have been lodging in my mind. It is really summed up in a word, escalation. So I started thinking about what was being shown and what I was watching.

My Top 7 Films of 2014

Well, as I have a reputation for punctuality, I think writing a Best Of list only a month late is gather gratifying. 2014 was an interesting year for me personally, but from a sitting in a dark room watching flickering light perspective, it was rather good.

For the Defense: Quantum of Solace

This post is really based upon the following review by Mark Kermode on the Radio 5 Live show he does with Simon Mayo on a Friday afternoon. Back in 2008 when Quantum of Solace came out, well, they both hated it and have, in the ensuing six years, repeatedly stated how much they dislike it. Here is why I think they are wrong.

Four Go Mad in the South of France

Given my usual stance on the French, it may come as a surprise to some to find out I do love France. It is a truly amazing place, almost as beautiful as Canada, just smaller and warmer. The Bone Family holiday this year took us to the South of France, to the Languedoc and a beautiful gite in Raissac d'Aude. We drove down there, well I drove it. Dad had just had an op and I was determined to get him and us down there as best I could. Paris was a nightmare. I've never visited the City of Light and to be fair, there are other places I have higher on my list. Given the traffic and the utter ineptitude of the Parisian driver, it has slipped a tad further down the list.

You Can Keep Your Dragons, Uthred Is Coming

It is rare that entertainment news makes me happy. Thankfully, last week, the BBC did just that, announcing that they were adapting The Last Kingdom. The Beeb is in an interesting place at the moment, they have huge global hits with the likes of Sherlock and Doctor Who, win Emmy’s for fun with Neil Cross and Idris Elba’s Luther and mange to keep us thrilled by the exploits of three ageing men who make poor jokes and ass about in cars on Top Gear. But in a TV world that is being rewritten using the rules the BBC used to commission by (1985’s Edge of Darkness, 1984’s incredible Threads, 1979’s Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy and comedy like Partridge and The Royal Family to name but a few), Auntie is being left to her knitting.

My Evening With Alejandro Jodorowsy

Back on New Year’s I wrote about the effect that Frank Pavich’s incredible documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune had on me. The film tells the story of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s mission to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune in 1975. Needless to say, it didn’t make it to the screen and passed into legend as one of the great unmade movies alongside Kubrick’s Napoleon. The documentary is a masterwork and quiet simply the most uplifting film I’ve seen in many a year.

Down Rodeo and Right at Barnes Bridge

I still remember the first time I heard Down Rodeo by Rage Against The Machine. It was the summer of 1996. I was in a pub I shouldn’t have been in in Croydon and the DJ put on Down Rodeo, which considering Bulls on Parade was the big track off Evil Empire, well, it was a change. I hadn’t bought the album yet, but hearing Tom Morello’s opening riff, the biting vocals, the mood of the song and the anger of Zac’s call to arms in the class war.

Look Mum! I'm on Telly!

The other week Sky Sports popped up saying they were opening applications for the audience for The F1 Show. The F1 Show is a live weekly magazine show on the Sky Sports F1 channel that discusses that week’s developments in F1. Hosted by the pitlane team of Ted Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham, they have a few guests on and generally chat away an entertaining hour. When I say chat, I mean Johnny Herbert is one of the guests, full time it seems, and chat is what he does. Stopping him seems to be the trick…

Blog, EventMatthew Bone7 June 2014Sky Sports, The F1 Show, F1, Formula 1, Natalie Pinkham, Ted Kravitz, Derek Bell, Johnny Herbert, Jules Bianchi, Sky, TV, guest, TwitterComment

"Oh... You're supporting Fulham this week?"

The title of this post is a running joke with a friend of mine and his dad and it popped into my head the other day following the local team Crystal Palace's promotion to the Premier League. This is a good thing. Palace are a great South London club and have been beset by financial troubles for many years, but now on a firm footing and, despite the best efforts of their manager, fought their way up. Lots of my closest friends support the Palace, go regularly and are besides themselves at joining the top flight. My Dad and brother support Palace too. Which brings me to my point.

Mickey Mouse's Mercy Killing: Farewell LucasArts

On Wednesday The House of Mouse announced that LucasArts, the game development arm of George Lucas' company, would be closed and it's efforts moved towards licensing the titles it had amassed. Of course, this means licensing the golden goose (or should that be golden Bantha) that is Star Wars. The problem with LucasArt's games output over the last few years is that the Law of Diminishing Returns was in full effect.

Heroes Part 2 - Richard Seaman or How I Leaned to Stop Worrying and Race for the Devil

I must admit, I am fascinated by portrayals of the Devil in popular culture. Whether it is Faust, Robert Johnson getting his guitar tuned at the crossroads, Jagger introducing himself, Peter Cook's George Spiggott or Zafon's Andreas Corelli they all live up to Paul's adage in 2 Corinthians 11:14 where he states "Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light." To catch more flies with honey than with vinegar is never truer in his case. Being offered Helen of Troy for your soul, providing she lives up to her billing in the Iliad (and if the devil truly is Peter Cook, boys and girls, she will not...), seems a fair trade.

Heroes - Part 1 - Woolf Barnato - The Greatest Bentley Boy

I’ve been in an odd mood recently. I think it was triggered by the latest issue of Motorsport magazine which is leading with reminisces about Gilles Villeneuve by friends and rivals as it's the 30th anniversary of his death during practice at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. I've got to thinking a lot about Heroes. Let’s face it, we all have them. They are just normal people at the end of the day, with something in them that when the chance comes along, do something that captures your imagination on either a deeply personal level or on a wider one that captures the public’s attention, they do so with both hands.

The Longest Day

Six and a half hours. That was it. For the three of us, the realisation of this came as a bit of a shock. For three guys who barely ever shut up, to find that we ran out of banter at just past the halfway point of our epic charity challenge was a humbling experience. But before we get there, let’s start at 5.30 am, 27th July 2011, on the first tee at Hurtmore Golf Club in Guildford. And amazingly, it wasn't raining.

"Charity", "Golf", "Hurtmore Golf Club", "Longest Day Challenge", "Macmillan Cancer Support", "Red Bull", "Srixon"Matthew Bone15 January 2012Comment

The Longest Day - The Score Cards

Scorecards from The Longest Day.

Matthew Bone15 January 2012Comment

Charity - Not for the Faint of Heart

The 27th July 2011 is going to have the worst weather the British Isles has ever seen, or at least the Guildford area will. Why I hear you ask, well I shall tell you. It, like most things these days, started with an email. "You up for this?" is all the subject said and contained this link:
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Fundraising/Golfevents/LongestDayGolf/LongestDayGolfChallenge.aspx

"Charity", "Golf", "Hurtmore Golf Club", "Longest Day Challenge", "Macmillan Cancer Support"Matthew Bone28 June 2011Comment

Pedaling into the Gates of Hell

After a rather drawn out period of time stranded in Nairobi, there was something magical about standing on the edge of the Rift Valley looking into a place I had dreamed of seeing since I was little. You see it is here the Lions live and, should you believe those sorts of things, it is supposedly the oldest inhabited place on earth. For me, gazing into the southern end of the Rift, the realisation that the Africa I had been living was only the sad reality of the city. In Nairobi's case, it looks like it was designed by the same architect (incidentally, he was savaged to death by his guide dog) who also was responsible for the town planning of Croydon in the '70's. It has few redeeming qualities, but the locals are friendly enough.

Time flies when your being worked to death

Two years since I posted something on here, wow... My excuse is two fold, lethargy and a firm suspicion my company is trying to work me to death. My blood pressure is sharing numbers with NHS heart patients just after being told their doctor will see them once he has received his immigration papers. So its been an eventful time.

"Work", "absinthe", "blood pressure", "cocktails", "door 74", "experimental cocktail club", "le rouge"Boney19 March 2011Comment

Pictorial Update

Its been nearly a year without word so I thought I'd post some snaps from the last year or so.

Matthew Bone22 July 2010Comment