ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Archives for October 2019

Benny and Omar – Book Review

By

   
Title Benny and Omar
Place Wexford and Africa (Tunisia)
Publication date 1998
Pages 237 pb
Price £4.99 or less
Author Eoin Colfer
Publisher O’Brien
Edition Pb
Special features (maps, etc.)  
ISBN 0-86278-567-7
Amazon Link Benny and Omar
Benny and Omar

Benny and Omar is written for the teenage market, and with its setting in Wexford and then the move to Tunisia the audience should be large.  The story also introduces sibling rivalry between Benny and George, brother but two complete opposites with little to bring them together except genes, and also the transportation from an Irish rural setting to one in Tunisia, Africa, and then from a state Irish school environment to one of temporary visitor in a school run for the benefit of the children of temporary workers (something which I have experience off), and here he has to try and break into the clique which has already formed before his arrival.

The story in Tunisia develops through the friendship of Benny and Omar.  Benny in Omar’s eyes has a life of privilege, in Benny’s eyes, Omar is just existing.  Two complete opposites (again) in an economic sense, but as is often the case two kindred spirits who go on a series of adventures culminating in a madscape run escaping from the village guards, Benny’s parents, and ultimately the police.

This a book worth preserving with, because at times the patois language developed by Omar from watching American TV can be difficult to comprehend – but make the effort and you will love the characters in the story, it will also make you think about other cultures and the way in which they live and work.

Third Man Out

By

   
Title Third Man Out
Place Albany area
Publication date 1992
Pages 173
Price £9.00 pb
Author Richard Stevenson
Publisher Harrington Park Press
Edition  
Special features (maps, etc.)  
ISBN 978-1-56023-656-6
Third Man Out

The ‘Third man Out’ reads like a bad headline in a tabloid about a cricket match at Lords: thankfully however Richard Stevenson’s, Donaly Strachey mystery, is anything but!

The story centres around the ethical question and decision of whether gay activists should “Out” closeted public figures, and in particular those who do damage to the LGBT community through actions or inaction.

I am not a philosophy major, and after the numerous newspaper articles showing high profile figures being caught literally with their fingers, if not something else, in the cookie jar, I will leave the rights or wrongs of “outing” to you as an individual.

But back to the story: it is a story set in the broadest terms of a gay community, with a loosely classified reporter being killed (murdered) for running an outing column.  Enter Don Strachey, whose similarity to the creations of writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane is compelling.  Strachey cannot be ignored, as with so many noir detectives. The story noir has all the integral parts, murder, mystery, lies, cheating, big wigs, little wigs – apart from the central them of the story being set in ‘gay and’, it could be an offshoot of the Big Sleep.

There is for a change a non-stupid police chief, who uses Strachey to do his hunting, and of course, the insurance payout.

Set within the story are the second thread, that of a gay man dying from AIDs, and of his family and his lover.  This story is tangential and apart from Strachey and his partner/lover has little impact on the main crime.  But what it does show is AIDs at that time, people’s understanding of the disease and its impact and also a moral decision that may have to be taken.

Of course, just like those great noir detectives of old, Strachey solves the crime and the murder, for they are two different things.

I am not going to give away the ending.  You are invited to read a well-crafted story with believable characters, and I will be looking for the other books and also for the movies now available on DVD with Chad Allen as the lead.

Third Man Out

Links:

Wikipedia – Noir Fiction

Full Service

By

Title Full Service
Place USA
Publication date 2012
Pages 286
Price £8.99
Author Scotty Bowers & Lionel Friedberg
Publisher Grove Press
Edition PB
Special features (maps, etc.) Photographs of the stars
ISBN 978 1 61185 5807

Full Service as a phrase has many interpretations, but in the world of sex, the understanding is clear and unambiguous, which means that ‘Full Service’ as a title for Scotty Bowers (with Lionel Friedberg) book would seem very relevant.

Full Service - 5
Scotty Bowers

When reading Full Service it is like taking a ladder of dates and placing a small cameo of a story where you can and then filing the blanks with joining stories (some relevant and some not) from Scotty’s past.

The subtitle to the book (‘Secret Sex Lives of The Stars’), is open to your belief or disbelief of each story and character.  The ladder holds stories about stars in the entertainment business and begin from the mid-40s and includes people up to the present day in one form or another.

Most of those items which some may think interesting are not new in terms of some of the stars supposed sexuality, the reference to the Duke of Windsor and Churchill are open to whether you seem them relevant to this book.

The books is an easy read, it does not have a bibliography or reference notes, so at best it one person’s memories and observations, at worse it is a light weight novel.

Full Service

Apart from the personal family photographs of the children, most of the photos are in the public domain and do not bring anything extra to the table.  There is also no chapter listing at the start of the novel, which would make it easier to dip into and out of the book, or even to look something up in the future

Full Service -3

So in summing up, Full Service is a lightweight reminiscence into the past without validation, and without a lot of peoples opportunity to challenge these reminiscences.  Certainly it will prove to be of interest to some, but not in my belief to any in-depth researcher.


The Guardian – Hollywood’s secret history: Scotty Bowers on sex and stars in the Golden Era

Wikipedia – Full Service

IMDB – Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

To A Mask

By

Poems, Oct 2013-Dec 2014

by

Peter Brooke

“Politics and Theology”

25 Page Booklet

To A Mask - God

The main theme of this group of poems, To A Mask, is a relationship with God.  There are other sub-themes of Christmas, moss-covered boulder, the Church, but all of them link in one form or another with ‘God’.  I am not a poet, so it is beyond me to write and critique on the forms used; I am also not a believer in ‘God’ as defined by the various churches and religions, but as a member of the human race I believe I can write about the human condition.  The feeling of isolation and of loss that so many of us have.  For me, it is difficult to be thankful for a diety that I don’t believe in that in any way be considered fair.  I am thankful to those who have been a support to me, to my parents for developing in me a self-reliance trait.

Peter Brooke’s To A Mask poems ask questions about belief, about God and for the relationship that so many have with God.  There does seem to a theme of underlying guilt and remorse in the poems:

Was it worth it (perhaps

it was) that past

generations should die,

that Christ’s

birth be accompanied by

a massacre…

                                                                     (Joyeux Noel for Madeline Albright)

To A Mask
birth be accompanied

and the ability of God to impose his wrath:

…Our God is a destroying fire,

and a destroying fire there is.

If God is not angry, yet

the Wrath of God is real –

space and time, burning in the calm

Ocean of Eternity…

                                                            The Wrath of God

To A Mask - Volcano meteor

But as with all beliefs, it is individual and personal. Which takes me back to my previous personal point, I do not believe that organised religions, encompassing churches and people of authority in them, should be directing or controlling our lives. The individual strength of character brought about by relevant education and training as we grow through childhood to adulthood should suffice.

Contact details for Peter Brooke:

www.peterbrooke.org.uk

pbrooke@phonecoop.coop

Movie Review – Furious [2017]

By

Title Furious
Release Year: 2017
Director(s) Name(s) Dzhanik Fayziev, Ivan Shurkhovetskiy
Lead Actor(s) Ilya Malakov, Aleksey Serebryakov, Aleksandr Ilin
Genre Action, History
DVD/Blueray  
Amazon Link: Legenda o Kolovrate
   

Furious (or in Russian “Legenda o Kolovrate) is a Russian movie which is well thought out, with a few new twists (Russian style) and also Russian weather (Napoleon and Hitler style)!

I is a really enjoyable movie, with the lead of Ilya Malakov carrying his role of soldier, father, leader wonderfully well; I will not tell his foible, but it does make for an interesting (if not totally original) aspect to the movie.

The fact is it is a Russian movie in Russian and Tatar, with what appears to be well put together subtitles, and has lots of humour balanced against a well-crafted story of 13 men fighting the Mongol hoards.  The music is by Tankian, and to quote his own words’ “For years I contemplated to compose for a film with epic musical proportions utilizing big orchestral, crazy rock and moving ethnic elements. In that sense, my dreams came true. I am extremely proud of my work on this film”.

Furious
Legenda o Kolovrate [Furious)

Furious is an epic, and can easily be talked about in the same breath as:

  • 7 Samurai
  • The Magnificent 7
  • 13 Assasins
  • 47 Ronin (to a lesser extent, as the story for this movie is wonderful, just the film didn’t quite live to expectations)
Furious

I recommend this Furious to anyone who loves a good story, great acting, humour, tears, Russian steppes weather…well just about anything.

External links: