Dean Stockwell

 March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021

A career which predated World War Two- and spanned decades

Tony the Tiger

Admiral Al Calavicci 

John Cavil

Actor, Father, Husband, Democrat, Hippy

Now making that final leap home 

The Saturn Hole

 I was told by a poet once that the month building  up to your birthday is the Saturn hole..

The unluckiest time of the year. 

I certainly feel that way. My teeth ache and I worry that I will need to visit the dentist. Indeed it is pretty bad today. 

QPR cannot win. Though one ray of Sunshine is Gerrad has gone to Aston Villa 

It is freezing cold. Particularly at night. 

I have a cough. I now have a sharp pain radiating up, my body.

I am trying to diet a bit, and go dry for a while. So my evenings are long and boring.

Remembrance has come and gone though. So It is 40 days till Christmas. A second Lent!

11 months later. I still have sore teeth. I have been dry for 6 weeks. QPR are doing better in part due to the efforts of Mr Beale-former assistant to Mr Gerrad

Round up

 I have finished watching Babylon 5, season 4.  I will review it later, watch this space

QPR have thrown away their last two matches Indeed they lost their West London derby against Fulham

I have started to watch the new series of Dr Who

Peru is off the Red List! So I should see my daughter for Christmas 

The Court ruled in favour of my wife and she won custody of my daughter

 

It seems to have been all for nothing. Good money and good intentions gone to pot

The Magic of Uranium

 So this is an Idea from a Lindybeige video. What would be the rules of a world where magic existed. 

Lindy suggests Wizards having to physically touch bonfires to cast firebolt spells. Or using flywheels ands steam to power there spells. I came up with a similar idea

Imagine a universe where uranium oxide Which has been known about since Roman times, is used to fuel magic. So you can use Uranium oxide to colour glass. Imagine then a wizard having to wear 1000's of beads  to power his spell. Once the spell is cast the beads are depleted 

Or people stirring pitchblende to get the powder for yellow cake and use it in amulets for protection

It works fine against the spells, but still makes you sick. 

Now imagine the conditions of processing this in a hi medieval fantasy universe

The Many Saints of Newark

 

Yes I was disappointed. 

 I will start with the positives. It looks good- I liked the mentioning of Mussolini having been popular with Italian America before WW2  The Many Saints is not overlong - It comes in at 2 hours

 Michael Gandofini is fine as a young Tony Soprano. The writers don't really give him much to do.  Whatever is wrong with this film- is not due to Gandofini

The female lead is stunning.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8995141/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t7

She seems to have cut her hair- The camera is in love with her. She looks like a young Sophia Loren 

There are good strong supporting performances by the cast.  Now Jon Bernthal and Farmiga are solid as Livia and Johnny Boy Soprano. Though the Film makes Johnny Boy look weak He was a Mob Capo   Uncle Junior is almost comic relief- Indeed their are a few scenes where he says Your Sisters Cu.. Which apparently became his catchphrase on HBO's promo reels. It seems to be inferred that Uncle Junior is gay too - This was not the case. 

Magnusson does a good job as a young Paulie Walnuts. His aggression communicated by stare and attitude  The actor playing Silvio Dante seems to be dressed up as Robbie Rotten -  One crucial plot point relies on a knowledge of the Sopranos. 

The plot is basically a love triangle It is disappointing- oh and also the plot demands the young wife/ mistress who group in Scilly and ran in Mafia circles for a few years to suddenly be a moron. It also needs Dicki's mistress to suddenly find his nemesis so she can have sex with him

There seem to be several stories here - 

The Newark riots. ( A nice scene when Dickie Moltisanti is let pass by the NG as he is white)The rise of black gangs v the Mafia. This story is probably the best one

 The destiny of Tony Soprano and the fate of Dickie and his lover are the other stories intertwined here  I said there is a lot here. It seems the Sopranos were bolted onto this story Or its like when a TV show introduces a character as a romantic lead for a TV movie and then forgets them 

 I questioned why characters did certain things, and what motivated them. Why is Johnny Soprano so eager to let another guy influence his son? He seems to take a back seat to Dickie about the raising of his own flesh and blood

 Surely this should be a film about a romantic and platonic love triangle. The Bride and Dickie, and Tony and Dickie 

There is one scene in the first quarter of the film, which is very good. The mobsters are eating at one of their favourite haunts. Dickie opens the fire exit door, and they see the flames of the Newark riots. Romans or rather Pompeiians looking on as Vesuvius erupts. They use this imagery later 

The young Tony pointing out that it is not surprising there were Jews in Ivanhoe 

I also wonder if the lead character was originally written as not Dick Moltisanti but Richie Aprille I saw Richie's body language in this performance

We see Carmela  Yet her relationship with her uncle Dickie is not explored. It is rarely mentioned in the Sopranos Also Tony and Chris would seem to be have married their mothers 

The lad who plays the young Artie Buco is nicely cast. He has the look of Prince Rogane 

Okay was the Many Saints  supposed to be a series and it was compressed? 

Or is it supposed to be the story of the Soprano's and Moltisanti's destroyed by Juniors jealousy Now this was the case across the Soprano's no matter how high they rose. There venality or criminality brought them down. Be it a joke about Johnny Sac's wife or Vito's predilection or the whole plot about Junior 11eating fish''. The Mob is destroyed by petty jealousy and spite again

 I cant help but notice they drink rolling rock  in this film. Rolling Rock is an awful beer. It makes sense this is an awful film 

Welcome back Sonia

 Ms Sonia has recovered