Street Code by Jack Kirby

Today would have been the 95th birthday of the late, great Jack Kirby. As anyone who follows this blog will know I'm a huge fan of the King and his work - from his explosive war-time tales of Captain America and other patriotic scrappers, through his visionary "Kreations" that heralded the Marvel Age Of Comics, on through the early '70s renaissance of the Fourth World, and, yes, even up to late-period lunacy like Destroyer Duck.

In previous years on this day, I've posted pictures of Kirby's great super hero and fantasy creations, but this time I've gone with something a bit different. "Street Code" was Kirby's semi-autobiographical look back at his tough upbringing on the violent, Depression-hit streets of New York's Lower East Side. I'm sorry to say I've never read the whole story but I've come across a few images on t'internet and the one above is a beauty, capturing the vibrant, overcrowded, multicultural milieu of Kirby's tenement roots. Kirby took his experiences of poverty, small time crooks and street gangs and channelled them into his heroes and villains, imbuing them with a real, earthy humanity which grounded their more fantastic qualities.

In his short graphic novel depicting the early years of the comic book industry, The Dreamer, Kirby's contemporary ( and former boss ) Will Eisner included a thinly-veiled fictional version of Kirby, called Jack King. A tough, diminutive, cigar-chomping cartoonist, Jack King stands up to local mobsters who attempt to muscle in on the new comic book studio of the story's Eisner-surrogate. I'll have to paraphrase because I haven't got the GN to hand but, after King boots the mobsters out, Eisner's main character says something like "In the comic book business there are good guys and bad guys...and that's why there's Jack King..."

Blogging versus life

Those of you who are kind enough to drop by on a regular basis may have noticed a distinct lack of blogging round these 'ere parts recently. This is due to the usual, boring reasons: lack of time, energy etc. and the fact that our PC's feeling poorly again. ( I'm typing this on Sophie's netbook which is our only link to the space known as cyber at the moment. )

Tomorrow Sarah and I are heading down to Cornwall again ( well, we haven't been there for at least a month ) for a weekend in Penzance, with ( hopefully ) a chance to go dolphin spotting. If all goes well there should be some photos appearing here before long. Until then, hang in there, be kind to each other, keep on keepin' on... and all that kind of stuff :-)

Never mind the obelisks...

Even these guys can't catch Usain Bolt...

The fastest man alive...

( Check out this blog post about Usain by my mate Tom... )

Team GB

Victoria Pendleton


Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Louise Hazel
Jessica Ennis

I'm not that shallow ( really! ) that I'd watch the 2012 London Olympics just for all the gorgeous female athletes...

...but it helps :-)

Good luck for tomorrow, Jess!

It's obviously Amy's turn to die this season...

Doctor Who Series 7 - coming soon - and featuring the Special Weapons Dalek! Yay!

And ( deep breath... ) Dinosaurs On A Spaceship!!!! as seen in this new trailer. Enjoy.

The Amazing Spider-Man

If you've been reading super hero comics for as long as I have, you get used to two things: 1. people asking "You don't still read that crap?" and 2. seemingly endless reboots, re-imaginings and resurrections of long-running characters. And so it goes with silver screen supers too. I was initially dubious about the idea of Sony rebooting the Spider-Man franchise so soon after Sam Raimi's trilogy. Did we really need yet another version of Spidey's origin story? Couldn't the new director, the appropriately-named Marc Webb, just Recast And Carry On? Well, apparently not.

The good news is this latest version actually works. ( In my humble opinion of course. ) Many elements of the story and character ( Spidey's wise-cracking, the mystery of Peter's parents, the non-biological web-shooters ) hark back to the original Lee/Ditko/Romita days... which is fine by me. Marc Webb may not have Raimi's hyperactive, idiosyncratic vision but he can certainly frame a decent shot and can show off our friendly neighborhood web-slinger at his spidery best in the action scenes, while not being afraid to slow the pace to allow the characters room to breathe.

I'm still not totally convinced by the look of the costume: it strikes me as too fussy and over-designed after the simpler version in the previous movies, but ( despite the photo above ) at least Andrew Garfield keeps the mask on longer than his predecessor. It's always bugged me ( hah! ) in super hero movies when the main characters are so careless about their secret identities that they'll unmask in the middle of a crowded city and expect not to be recognised. I blame the actors :-)

Oh yeah, the actors. Brit Andrew Garfield is a gawky, moody Peter Parker - not as nerdy as Toby Maguire's take on the character, but still a convincing outsider, with a note-perfect American accent. Emma Stone is a perfect fit for the caring, compassionate Gwen Stacey. She brings a real warmth to a relatively under-developed character. The scenes between the two "teen" characters are beautifully underplayed and believably awkward.

The older members of the cast are fine too. Martin Sheen, Sally Field and Dennis Leary are all perfectly cast as the harassed adults struggling to deal with heroes, villains and teenagers, while Rhys Ifans makes a convincingly driven, one-armed scientist as Dr. Curt Connors, but is less confident as generic villain, The Lizard.

So, I'd award this movie Three Out Of Five Web-Shooters as a solid introduction to the new series, especially for the pairing of Garfield and Stone, but I'd like to see something a bit more er, Spectacular next time...

I'll leave you with this lovely, retro-styled look at Spidey and Gwen by Steve "The Dude" Rude.

Things I haven't blogged about recently

We've been down in our beloved Cornwall for the last week so I haven't been able to do any blogging.

( I know, I know... what's my excuse the rest of the time? ) Above is a picture Sophie took of the beach at beautiful, legend-shrouded Tintagel... a wonderful place that I've wanted to visit for years. There will be plenty more pics of glorious Cornwall to come.

Also on my mind at the moment:

On a sadder note, two former Doctor Who actresses have passed away recently: Caroline John and Mary Tamm. Although their characters were both relatively unsung companions ( possibly because they both only appeared in one season each ), they were however fine actresses who rose above the often limiting material they had to work with back in the day. There are plenty more tributes on t'internet in the usual places but I will just say that both of these ladies feature in two of my fave Who stories ( the tense, apocalyptic Inferno and the witty, summery Androids Of Tara ) and they will be greatly missed.

Sport isn't a subject that crops up very often at TGWS ( if at all ) but very occasionally an event comes along ( like the recent Federer/Murray match at Wimbledon ) that grabs my attention. Like this understated little happening taking place in that there London town:

Of course yesterday was the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, which turned out to be spectacular and slightly bizarre... in a very British kind of way. Danny Boyle's celebration of our idiosyncratic Brit culture took in Beatles, Blake and Bond, with a celebration of UK life from maypole-dancing rural idylls, through dark Satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution, through the ever-accelerating changes of the twentieth century, to the Information Age of today. Loads of great music complemented the spectacle: Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols (!), Blur, Led Zeppelin, The Specials, The Who, The Jam, Muse, Dizzee Rascal etc. with Sir Paul Of McCartney finishing the show with The End ( of course ) and Hey Jude.

Now, after all the pomp and circumstance it's the turn of the athletes to do their thing...

( Cue gratuitous photo of Jessica Ennis... )

Sing if you're glad to be Gaye ( Advert, that is... )

Back in the day, Gaye Advert was the Punk Pin-Up bass-player ( TM ) with spiky, seriously-underrated misfits The Adverts. Apparently never happy with all the media attention that focused on her looks and drop-dead cool attitude ( often at the band's expense ), Gaye retired from music after the band split up, whilst her other half Tim "TV" Smith carried on in his own, idiosyncratic, inspired way.

Long time readers of this 'ere blog will know that I'm a huge fan of TV Smith and the Adverts and that I met the great man at a gig in Bristol last year, where he turned out to be an absolute gentleman as well as a fantastic performer. And last weekend I got to meet Gaye as well...

This was at a benefit gig for SWARD ( an anti-toxic waste-dumping charity ) in the genteel surroundings of Bishop Cleeve's historic Tithe Barn. Most of the music played that evening was of the Maroon 5 / dreary acoustic genre, but the fresh-faced lads above ( Prodigal Sun, ex-schoolmates of my daughter, Sophie ) provided a little touch of Punk-pop fun with some fine songs and pretty good vocals. Ones to watch.

I've vaguely known Gaye Advert's sister, Wendy, for a little while and she was kind enough to introduce me and my mate Glenn to her ex-Advert sibling. Here we are, looking suitably star-struck :-)

I'd heard that Gaye was a very private person who shunned the limelight nowadays, but I found her to be lovely - very chatty and down to earth, with an infectious laugh and a wicked twinkle in her eye. We talked at great length and I managed not to embarrass myself too much by rambling on about days gone by and bands from the dim and distant past. Gaye is an artist as well as a curator of exhibitions, so she had plenty of interesting tales of the art world... as well as stories of her and Tim's youth back in Devon, and her love for Black Metal. And I must say that talking about the history and purpose of Tithe Barns with a former Punk Goddess was a truly bizarre experience...

So, a great evening with some wonderful, relaxed company. We even gave the two lovely ladies a lift home, something I never would have imagined when playing Crossing The Red Sea all those countless times as a wannabe teenage Punk - an Advert in the back of my car? WTF?

Of course, I couldn't resist asking Gaye to sign my copy of the first ( and best ) Adverts album. Hey, I'm only human...

Highnam Court Gardens

Taking advantage of some pretty decent weather for a change last weekend, we visited a local country house here in Gloucestershire, Highnam Court. We'd long wanted to have a look around the place and, as the famous gardens were open in aid of the Cobalt Unit ( a fantastic charity ), we went along to give our support and have a walk and a picnic in the grounds.

Highnam Court is a beautiful manor house with some gorgeous landscaped gardens, ranging in style from the more formal, typically Victorian gardens, to ones in the Italian and Japanese styles.

The gardens are home to many eye-catching sculptures, some in a classical style...

And some more modern...

It's a beautiful, well-designed place with so many interesting features around every corner - well worth a visit if you're in the area...

A perfect way to spend a warm Sunday afternoon: in an English country garden.

( The rest of my weekend was a bit more rock 'n' roll, but that's the subject of my next post... )