2235 Sopanos, Luck and Montalbano TV week

Balancing up crime from the perspective of the criminals was the third episode of Inspector Montalbano Shapes in Water, which in fact is the title of the first published book. I forgot to record until well into the programme so had to watch the first part on the BBC I player until reaching the recoded final section.

I can understand why the first book has becomes the third in the series because of the “softer” approach to criminal activity protecting the reputation of individuals.

A well known politician is found to have died in a heart attack while being serviced by a prostitute in a notorious beach spot frequented by the lowest level of whore, one of whom an illegal immigrant witnesses the arrival of the vehicle and disappearance of the female whore.

The story which Montalbano uncovers is complicated. Because of the man’s political position the establishment of presiding judge, local bishop and other interests want the death quietly buried in order to protect the widow and her son. There is something about the situation which rouses the Inspector’s natural instinct to get to the bottom of what happened.

A gold diamond encrusted necklace has been found by one of two “street cleaners” who had held on to the find wanting to pawn to gain the funds to take their sick son away for specialist treatment which could save his life and which was urgently required. Montalbano tracks down the man and his wife through blagging his way into the home of the other cleaner who discovered and reported finding the body. After hearing the story of the sick child the Inspector gives a receipt for the necklace on the basis that it was handed in on the day of its finding and makes sure the news of finding is out there.

This has the desired effect because a lawyer the political fixer of the dead man comes forward to claim the necklace with a cock a bull story about it came be lost.

Now that I come to write I have not grasped some of the essential elements and I am to busy to watch the programme again. He alleges that a wife had persuaded her husband to go down to the site to observe the life having worn the necklace at a social function earlier. The implication is that they had got out of their vehicle to have sex among the dunes and the necklace had not been noted as being lost until later. What with the death it was publicity the family did not want. (The bit I am not sure about is that the wife, a six foot woman from Sweden regarded as a free spirit was married to the man’s son),

Montalbano agrees to return the property on the understanding that the man who found the necklace said to be worth 70 million lire (only about £30000 before the euro) to pay the finder a reward of 10 million and he then advises the family to immediately make arrangements to take the child for treatment and leave as soon as the money is paid. This appears to have taken place without a hitch.

When Montalbano revisits the site he find a hand bag clearly belonging to the wife from Sweden, and the witness to the event describes the woman in the car as tall, not one of the regulars and having left he car made her way to the roadway. The witness also reveals that oddly the woman was immediately picked up by a car as if by prior arrangement. Montalbano turns a blind eye to her illegal status because of her help.

He then visits the widow to pay his respects and finds her a fine woman but no illusions about her husband except that she does not understand the circumstances of his death as he has a cottage by the sea which he used for his affairs. The photo in the car shows that he was wearing his underpants pants inside out something about which he was fastidious and would never do.

Montalbano visit the cottage and finds it is a large villa where they are women’s clothing and a hand gun in a side drawer.

Her gets to know the daughter of the man’s son and her story helps him understand what has happened. It is true that the daughter had been seduced by her father in law who had shown a violent streak and had bullied her into further sex. He had a tendency to tear off her clothes which is why she had clothing at the villa. However she had not been with him the night he died. She had lost the necklace but previously, and she had also lost a bag which had her initials

When the Inspector the widow he had noted the beautiful and distressed nephew who had a petit mal occurrence he was present. Eventually the Inspector is able to establish that the boy had become the lover of the politician and had been with him at the villa on the night of the heart attack. He had called on his uncle’s lawyer for help and the lawyer had seen the opportunity for advancing his own political fortunes within the Party by discrediting the family and in particular the husband of the woman he tried to frame. He had arranged for a contact who was a cross dresser to come out and drive the dead man from the villa via a river bed onto the beach and to the spot where the car was found. He had dumped the necklace and bag hoping that the combined publicity with ruin the political reputation of the family.

The Inspector had taken the Swedish wife to the villa to test out that a car could be driven from their off road to the site where the body was discovered. She is a fast driver of fast cars. She stumbles and hurts her ankle at one point and gets Montalbano to rubs some ointment. She takes off her skirt and comments he is a gentleman when he does not take this as an invitation. When he decides to close the case as requested covering up various aspects she offers herself but again as in the previously episode he is tied to mistress more than he appreciates.

The lawyer is found shot and the Inspector realises that the murder weapon is the one he found at the villa, and left there. The nephew is then found dead having gone off the road at a bend high on the cliff side. He therefore closes the case much to the delight the establishment but without disclosing or recording all that he knows. He has confided in his mistress who is surprised that he has behaved out of character. On reflection despite another messed up weekend with him she appreciates that he was being kind to various people rather than cow towing to the establishment.

Luck

The week also saw the commencement of a new and well advertised series which appears to concentrate on the criminal aspect of horse racing titled Luck. The series also has a major Hollywood A lister in the main role Dustin Hoffman as Ace Chester Bernstein. Immediately after the pilot showing in the USA in December a second series was announced with ten episodes from 2013. In addition to the pilot another 8 programmes are included in series 1 of which the second was broadcast back to back here in the UK.

Hoffman is released from prison after serving three years of a sentence for some drug violation where he has taken the fall to protect his son who was resident in his New York apartment whens found in possession although the quantity of drugs belonged to his former business partner Mike, played by another former A lister the British actor Michael Gabon. And who had secreted them their without permission. Mike is therefore indebted to Ace who it quickly becomes apparent is out to break him.

Ace also makes it plain he trusts no one which given the goings on in the Sopranos is a wise philosophy for any one involved with crime families. He has someone who has looked out for him while away and who now is to become his front man as well as personal driver, This is Gus played a familiar face Dennis Farina. His first job is to act as the owner of a horse called Pint of Plain which is being trained by the Latin Turo Escalante a respected straight trainer who nevertheless has kept the potential of the horse under wraps until his outing to mark the release of Ace. This is one of the horses which a group of trackside gambling bums have in their syndicate betting to win the six race accumulator in which the winnings from one race become the bet on the second and so on.

Meanwhile we learn that the main plan of Ace is to gain control of the race track at Santa Anita Park which has the space and the potential to gain a licence for a Casino, which is his main goal as a means of breaking those who betrayed him but where honour prevented him from getting out of the prison rap. The Santa Anita track in California is regarded as the most prestigious in the USA because of its beautiful mountain background setting and quality of the racing during the Winter and Spring

Ace owns a legitimate investment company and he holds a board meeting in which he commences his plan by ordering a purchase of shares in the track and takes an interest in a young pushy securities trader who he decides to spearhead his revenge. He meets up with his suspicious former business associate who Hoffman does his best to reassure he carries no grudge but seeks his help in gaining control of the racetrack with a view to the Casino development.

He also takes an interest in a young woman who is seeking financial support for former racehorses rather than have them immediately put down when they break a limb as we witness with one horse on the race day. Ace is genuinely interested in giving support but also interested in the young woman in what appears to be primarily a male fronted series.

The series also follows the fortunes of the trackside “bums” a disparate collection of characters. The brains of the group is Jerry who has devised the system of accumulative betting. The plan usually involves betting on three horses in each race with any winnings placed in the races successively and then betting on every hose in the last to guarantee the big pay out. They appear to make sufficient money to finance their other interests or have other means to fund their 24/7 involvement with the track, the local trainers and the inside knowledge wherever it comes available.

Jerry has picked up the info that Escalante has been hiding the potential of a horse called Mon Gateau and persuades the group to place all their accumulated money from the first four races on the fifth in which Mon Gateau is running. Escalante is angry when he hears about the winning bet because this indicates that the jockey has been talking.

After the win of $2.6million the group book into a suite of rooms with interconnecting doors so they can keep an eye on each other until claiming and distributing the prize money because of concerns. The track is wanting to publicise the win, its biggest of the kind to attract future business whereas the syndicate do not want media interest of to be identified less inquiries about their information are made and exiting enjoyable life style is changed. One of the group wheel chair bound has is life revolving at the track and his regular spot available for wheel chair users. However two of the group are behaving in such a way to threaten his approach.

Jerry has started to play cards for bigger pots and loses although in the second episode he comes good with a major win against the man he has previously lost to. Another of the syndicate the older Marcus is flattered to find he has become the sexual interest of two women insurance agents. then finds himself the potential victim of the women who have taken out insurance on his life and set about killing him after a sex session. He is rescued. He has a kindly heart and has a plan to buy Mon Gateau in what we call a Selling Plate (in the USA a claimers stake), where the winning horse is sold. In the USA version there are sealed bids with the best bid taking the horse unless the bids are equal in which instance there is a lottery. Marcus uses a contact to front his bid until the gains a trainers licence. He hopes the purchase of he horse will help to keep Jerry from losing all his winnings in Poker as well as upgrade the role of his friends from gamblers into owners as he proposes to give a piece of horse to each of them. Unfortunately another trainer has also spotted the potential of the horse places the same bid and wins in the lottery suggesting some kind of fix.

A third horse being followed is trained by another Hollywood A Lister Nick Nolte as an aging training from Kentucky who is quietly bringing on a horse sired by the famous Delphi which could have won the famous Derby. Nolte had trained the horse only to have his hopes and ambition dashed when the owner died and the family arranged the accidental death of the potential champion in order to claim the substantial insurance money. Gettin up is showing all the potential of a champion and his female training rider is pleased when she is allowed to let him go during the last quarter of the morning gallop.

Nolte agrees to an established jockey being given the ride under pressure of a Jockey’s agent who is wanting to get his client a good win because the man is on the slide from drugs and drink. Fortunately the jockey is sidelined for medical reasons but this leaves Nolte with the dilemma of using an apprentice who like the horse has not raced before or getting someone who does not know the horse. He decides on the young who is boxed in by more inexperienced jockeys but manages to break through going on the inside rail and wins the race.

Thus we lean that there is no such thing as Luck in the business and it is all a fix.

Sopranos Season 5 1-3

The fifth season of the Sopranos commenced a week after the concluding episode of the fourth in which Tony separates from his wife Carmela. It has been coming for sometime under pressure from Catholic priests to move away from living off the proceeds of crime and in the knowledge that her husband used the women he employed as well as prolonged flings with other women she had snapped when the simmering infatuation with Tony’s hard man factotum, Furio, disappeared back to Italy after deciding that he could not face the implications of making a move on the wife of his boss.

In Two Tonys, two years after the separation, Tony has come to realise realises that he needs the anchor of playing the family man and he also misses the sparring with Dr Melfi. Carmela has established a new life and formed a cinema club using the home cinema Tony created in beach house. There are mixed reactions to a viewing of Citizen Kane which starts with the warning about copying and illegal showing of films. Afterwards they talk about their relationships and Janice discloses that her new husband Bobby Bacala has not yet found her Rosebud. Tony then spoils the party by arranging to remove the projection and sound mechanism when he finds that she is beginning to cope without him.

It also a film, The Prince of Tides which re-ignites Tony’s interest in Dr Melfi. This is the film where the son of a dysfunctional family travels to New York to help his suicide tendency twin sister and establishes a relationship with her psychiatrist played by Barbara Streisand.

Tony sends a giant bouquet of flowers and calls at her office to invite to dinner. Dr Melfi is in a dilemma understanding that this may be Tony’s way of wanting her help again although also aware that his interest is potentially dangerous and tries to let him down without rejection but in the end is forced to do so and he storms out of the office swearing at her.

When son AJ discovers a bear has entered the grounds he is terrified. Carmela calls the authorities who explain their difficulty in taking action with the bear having attacked someone or caused significant damage. When Tony hears about the problem he arranges 24/7 security as and takes a shift as a means of regaining a foothold back in the family setting. Carmela has learned that Tony has been ringing around Italy to locate the whereabouts of Furio having learned about his wife’s infatuation from Meadow. He openly admits to putting out a contract if he can find where his former employee is located. AJ and Meadow do not play significant roles in the first episodes.

His sister Janice has married Widow Bobby Bacala and become the step mother of his two children and is expected to provide Sunday lunch for Tony his son and daughter as well as Uncle Junior and the other sister and her husband who live in New York. On one of these events the news announces that a number of local associates imprisoned in the 1980’s are to be released including a cousin of Tony also called Tony Blundetto who had grown up with him as a brother and then Michele Feech La Manna the former Capo of the defunct La Manna crew.

At his coming out party after 20 years inside Feech explains how he survived by picking on the man who looked toughest when he arrived and beating him up. While he has a bakery to run as his day job he announces that he wants to be back in the rackets and the first he chooses is to provide environmental services through a relative selecting an area which is not already controlled.

The symbolic victim is Sal Vitro who he advises is no longer required in an area where fortunately for him he cuts the lawn and is kind to the aunt of Pauli Walnuts. She intercedes when Sal is beaten up and has his arm broken by Feech. Fortunately Tony’s Cousin prevents more damage as they are both on parole. Pauli now intervenes and visits Feech at the bakery to say that he is not entitled to anything because he has been to prison. Feech points out that what is Pauli’s is Pauli’s but anything else is open. Pauli returns to site and hits relative of Feech on the head with a spade causing the other guy to fall from a height from a tree. He takes cash which they have in hand and the lawn mower until they meet all the hospital bills of Sal and also agree to pay him a percentage for taking over his territory. Pauli and Feech have a sit down with Tony and agree that the Sal and the nephew should have half the disputed area. Sal is effectively no longer free and is part of the mobster’s empire.

There is also Phil Leotardo a captain in the Lupertazzi Family, and Angelo Garepe who was the Consigliere for the family. Tony has a celebratory lunch with Garepe, his boss Carmine and New Jersey resident under boss Johnny Sachs when Carmine has a heart attack and later dies. Tony contacts his son Little Carmine who he visited last season in Miami which brokered the peace deal the and brought to a halt the Carmine execution which Johnny Sacks had encouraged and which Christopher arranged but then had to kill the assassins when the deal was made

At the Funeral there are heated words between Little Carmine and Johnny Sacks over his decision to place an Opus Dei rosary in the hands of his father as the son regards these as representing a fundamentalist cult which his father would have not been involved with.

In Where’s Johnny it is Phil Leotardo who attempts to move on two loan sharks who pay dues to Little Carmine in Florida. They pull a gun on Lorraine Calluzo and shoot her but placing a phone directory over her chest to absorb the bullet. Lorraine takes her concerns to Tony who tries to act as a peacemaker. Lorraine feels she is being pulled three ways as in addition to Leotardo and Little Carmine she believes Johnny Sachs wants her to fund him exclusively. Tony suggests that Johnny and Little Carmine be recognised as territory bosses together with Angelo and divide the business tribute accordingly. Angelo says he is in semi retirement and wants to enjoy his grandchildren. Tony tries to resolve the situation at a meet with Christopher at his side who he has told not to intervene but Christopher cannot keep quiet and afterwards Tony tells him off perhaps signalling a new rift between the two.

The rivalry between Christopher and Pauli heats up when Pauli not only makes Christopher pay for special dinners but makes a point of over ordering and giving away drinks to strangers with the consequence that Christopher finds himself with $1000 dollar bills The situation comes to a head when forced to cover another night out Christopher only gives $16 dollars to round up the bill to $1200 instead of the usual 10%-15%, The waiter comes out after Christopher to protest and calls them fucking arseholes. Christopher throws a brick and wounds the waiter and Pauli shoot him to shut his potential mouth up, They two men realise things have gone too far and split the tab as a means of burying the hatchet.

Christopher’s woman Adriana continues to report overheard talk or disclosures from Christopher to the FBI but she is not alone. One evening the contractor for the recent apartment development calls with a farewell present for Tony, a contemporary painting of the Rat Pack which is the title of episode 54. Unbeknown to Tony he has been “persuaded” by the FBI task force to wear a wire in his baseball cap and quiz Tony about his contact with corrupt officials pretending to be interested in another important job tender coming up which he would like to undertake in another deal with Tony.

Tony is alerted to the possibility that the contractor is another in the line of FBI spies when Patsi Parisi comments that their earlier meeting was under surveillance. Tony arranges a meeting with Prime Suspect Massarone giving him a frisk during a warm embrace unaware that the device is in the cap. He therefore is uncertain and his comments to his associates are ambiguous. The man is found in the trunk of his car although who killed him is not disclosed. Meanwhile Adriana is becoming more concerned about her position and nearly spills the beans to the wives at the next film society met when they are forced to talk because Tony has disabled the system. Mention is made of the husband of Angie Bonespiero who they believe is in witness protection.

Adriana has developed a relationship with FBI agent Sansevrino who explains what happened to her sister who was killed by a bullet from one of the hand guns made by her criminal boyfriend. Adriana is shocked to learn she could be asked to continue her present role for as long as ten years. She uses this relationship to rat on Tina Francesco, previously her best friend, after she had noted the woman makings eyes at Christopher and talking dirty innuendo. She reveals the woman has been fixing the books from her boss at the clothing store providing her with a second income.

Tony has been looking forward to the release of his namesake from prison for a crime which Tony was to have been directly involved, On release Tony (uncle Al) as he was known to identify him from Tony (Uncle Johnny), declares that he is not interested in getting directly involved in crime again and has been training to become a masseurs and that in the meantime he wants to take a regular job, which understandably bugs his cousin. Tony nevertheless gets him a job collecting laundry. The owner of laundry advises Tony that he is not satisfied with the work and proposes to dismiss his cousin and Tony agrees but is angry at being put in the situation.

In fact Tony is becoming angry with everyone, his wife, Dr Melfi, Christopher and the New York interests. He also become angry with Uncle Junior who at a Sunday gathering appears to ignore what Tony tells him. Tony goes off angry. However Junior is showing all the signs of paranoia dementia. He watches TV thinks he is on screen and is being mocked. He slips out one evening, in bathrobe and slippers, takes his car and goes to his old neighbourhood to the house where is brother lived. Finding him not there he visits a building where he once had slot machine to find it is a church with a youth group. He forgets where he has his car.

He sits on a bench and a homeless woman sit with him appearing to know who he was and offers him sex but Junior goes off in search of his car. He is picked up by police officers who disbelieved that he is Corridor Soprano but they get him to his house where Janice shows his driving licence. Janice and Bobby recognise that Junior is developing Alzheimer’s. They visit Tony who is staying at Livia’s old house now that Janice is married and living with Bobby. Tony says Junior is dead to him.

He reminds of her record of trying to help people in the past, her drug habit and life on the road. There is a brawl as Tony gets angrier and Janice goes off in distress with Tony telling Bobby to control his wife!

On the golf course the neurologist treating Junior explains what is happening may be due the mini strokes and that it is important Junior takes his medication. Tony visits Junior to make peace and Junior advises that Feech is angry that Tony ruled against him in relation to Sal Vitro. Tony is upset that Feech went to Junior but Junior reminds that he is officially head of the family. Tony wants to know why Junior is always saying bad things about him and they both sit quietly getting upset.

Inspector Montalbano

The past week has seen one previously experienced 3D film experienced on 3D TV and one 3D film which was viewed last year as 2D now also seen as 3D on TV. There was one new film State of Grace in the sense that I have a vague memory of having seen before and which because of its subject I will review together with the first three episodes of season 5 Sopranos. I will however begin with a new 10 part Italian Detective Drama Inspector Montalbano which although set in Sicily there has only been a momentary reference of the Mafia and which I rate alongside the Swedish Wallander, the French Maigret and the Dutch Van der Valk, Hercule Poirot from Belgium and Bergerac from the Channel Island Jersey,

Montalbano is also an individualist like the others who demands of his subordinates but protects and furthers their situations. As with all similar characters his private life has its ups and downs and is affected but his work as well as his inclination to be a law unto himself,

He has a long term relationship with a woman who lives on the mainland and which he and his colleagues refer as Italy, regarding Sicily as separate, and the couple visit each other by plane when they can and which appears not often given they both have demanding occupations. They both find the situation has disadvantages as well as advantages with his work affecting their relationship when she makes a special visit and then she questions if she is more than a sex object. A child encountered in the first episode has a significant affect on their relationship and the bond that been established over the greater part of a decade.

In the first episode a man is shot on a ship while at sea I cannot remember just within or outside Italian waters with one ship involved Italian but the man a citizen of a North African country. Montalbano is happy for the case to pass to others while he concentrates on the murder of businessman. I sensed the wife was guilty at the outset although she blames the man’s alleged mistress. The wife has an alibi that she left for a visit early that day and returned on hearing the news on In fact Montalbano proves that although the wife said she left early to visit she had never arrived and he then establishes that she got off the bus and got on another returning home, killed the husband and then left. This emerges later in the episode

Understandably Montalbano first thought is to find the mistress and visits the enclave of fellow countrymen and only later would have noted that she was of the same nationality as the man murdered at sea and of the country where was a dispute over responsibility. Visiting the enclave he makes contact with an old woman friend of the alleged mistress who has a son and both are said to have gone to stay with a friend of the old woman.

However the young woman and her son do not arrive at the friend and her home is found ransacked. The old woman shows where the alleged mistress had hidden her bank book which contained over 100 million lire which puts the series before 1999 when the euro came in and when such an amount was worth £50000, still a lot of money but not fortune. Although for someone with the background and living conditions of the young woman it was.

I say alleged mistress because her relationship with the business man is never clarified to my satisfaction

Montalbano also come across some people complaining about a young boy stealing snacks crisps and chocolate from children in a one neighbourhood on his way to and from seeing the old woman. This is also to have significance.

After placing information on the media a man comes forward to say he had seen the woman in a car at a bus stop arguing with a man. He had considered approaching but had refrained although he made a note of the vehicle registration number. Apparently in Italy at that time it was difficult getting an immediate trace even for the police. Here any police officer can get an immediate trace through their onboard vehicle computer. In Italy it could take days if not weeks so Montalbano has to pull strings to get a response which he then finds the information is blocked because of national security reasons.

His female friend is spending a few days with him. And it is something which she says which makes him realise there is a connection between the woman is seen in the car but without the boy, and the boy stealing the food. His female friend accompanies and it she who is able to befriend the boy when he is found. They care for the boy and the child brings out the maternal feelings in the woman who is getting no younger and where she has reconciled with difficulty that for various reasons Montalbano is not going to marry her. However his position changes when he too befriends the boy who reciprocates the affection. It is the boy who explains that when his mother saw the man in the car driving up she told the boy to run into the adjacent field and hide. Then the boy recognises the mystery man who was killed on the boat. It is her mother’s brother!

Montalbano is able to work out from other inquires that the brother was a drug smuggler and that the businessman was a front operation for the smuggling. This is why the office was more of a flat with a bed than an office. This suggest that the young woman was his mistress but not conclusively because the money appears to have originated from the drug dealing, although again there are issues which also makes this unclear,

When she had seen the news of the death of her brother she had gone immediately to see the businessman at his home. I am not sure of the sequence of events but I think that she made two visits. The wife who knew about a relationship between the young woman and her husband, but not his involvement in the drug smuggling had been incensed to find the woman was in her home although it may have been coincidental and she had planned to kill him that very morning and blame the mistress. What is certain is that the young woman had been in that flat in the morning as her scent and found the body and panicked and feared for her life thinking it was the same killer who had killed her brother.

She had not taken the bank book with her in case she was caught and the money taken from her. It as all that she could give to her son with Montalbano fearing she was now dead. In order to smoke the villain out, now that he had been refused the known information about him from the car registration he put out a media story that the boy was missing having arranged for the boy to placed with the relatives of a policeman in the country. He tells his female friend to leave and the old woman to go and stay with her friends. Unfortunately before he can communicate this to old woman she leaves to check that the boy has not returned home. She is murdered but has not given up the location of the bank book. Montalbano takes the book to the Public Notary for its safekeeping in order that it should become part of his mother’s estate. Unfortunately this cannot happen until a body is found.

Montalbano uses further deceptions to bring the security forces to his door and he arranged for a camera to be place secretly. As anticipated a senior official arrives who admit their complicity in the affair aiding another government but unaware the intention was to eliminate witnesses. The assassin had already returned to the home country. Montalbano then uses the video tape to blackmail the official to finding the body. He breaks the man’s glasses so that he cannot be immediately followed and stopped before taking the tape into the safe keeping at his office. Fortunately the threat of public exposure works and an unrecognisable body is found washed up on the shore but here are personal effects which identify the woman as the boy’s mother. It is presumed that this is not the real body but a fix to ensure that the boy inherits his mother’s estate. I say fortunately because when he checks the tape he founds that he did not start the camera!

His woman friend reveals her frustration at not being married and not having children is affected by the boy who has reciprocated their affection and says he wants to be with them. The programme ends with impression that the couple are to marry and adopt the boy.

It is during the second episode yesterday evening that Montalbano goes to visit the boy who appears to be afraid of him. The boy explains that he is very happy in his new home especially as he has ”brothers” Although torn in his feelings the boy wants to stay. When Montalbano tells his woman friend this she is very angry and thinks this is either him trying to get out of his commitment or that the foster family are trying to take the child away from her. As the episode ends she makes a secret visit to see the boy and had decided to leave without seeing Montalbano. What happened is the boy had been happy to see her and said he loved her but also said he wanted to stay and she realised this was true and that it was an important outcome. She is devastated but had been persuaded by the policeman’s brother of the family to see Montalbano and explain what had happened. She is too upset to stay and leaves. It is possible at that moment to believe that the relationship has or will end especially as the possibility of an exciting new relationship with a young woman emerges. What may be an answer is a feature of the second episode.

In the second episode Montalbano is a car passenger travelling at speed on their way to the funeral of a colleague when to avoid a chicken in the road they hit a parked car by a large gated property They discover that the property belongs to a wealthy family in Bologna which his wife is renovating, staying at a hotel in Sicily. The vehicle is registered to her so it is puzzling that she has not been in contact. The police receive an anonymous call that there has been a murder and they investigate and find that the woman naked and strangled. Montalbano covers her body with a bathroom which he had found laying on the bathroom floor. There is a jurisdiction problem because of the location of the property and the situation is supervised by someone, I believe a presiding judge, where Montalbano has no respect and the man dislikes him and takes him off the case and criticises he interfered with the crime scene by placing the bathrobe over the body. In this story there are several strands which take time to come together to resolve the position.

He believes the evidence points to a crime of passion, with the husband of the woman the first suspect for consideration. It emerges that the husband became impotent because of an operation and made the marriage of convenience in order to stop speculation. His wife had male friends to satisfy her passions which she was frank about to her husband and he loved her like a daughter.

The woman has a friend in Sicily, a school teacher of physics who is also beautiful and who tells Montalbano that she remains unmarried by choice because she has not met the right man. At first she is defensive about her friend but later she admits her knowledge of the situation and I believe it is she who provides the name and information about the latest man who Montalbano contacts by phone, and Art dealer in Bologna and says he as an alibi.

The main who is arranging the renovations is also a suspect and in particular his son who has learning difficulties and followed the woman as a puppy. The young man is shot dead by the local police when they go to arrest him living in a cave. They claim he had a bomb in his hand, a grenade. Montalbano is suspicious of this. The father and son were not registered gun owners and therefore they could not claim the man was armed. Montalbano insists on seeing the grenade which is of the Second World War and is aware that there is a museum of weapons at the police station. It begins to emerge that there is a connection between the anonymous call about the death, the killing of the boy and the mafia when Montalbano is sent a tape showing the head of flying squad plant the grenade to obtain clear finger prints. Montalbano visits and urges the police chief to act to prevent a scandal unfolding which affects everyone.

He has visited a woman to apologise for not being able to attend the funeral and she mentions that an internationally acclaimed violinist lives up stairs that no longer goes out but plays concerts for her. The episode has Violin in its title and Montalbano was surprised at the crime scene that an expensive looking violin case was opened when it was established that the woman did not play. The story emerges that the woman had passed by the accommodation one day and had heard violin playing and called and asked if the musician would given an opinion about a violin she had found at the property. It was an important instrument which he had arranged to repair and then to play. He had given the woman with her knowledge a good violin but not one of significant value. This suggests she was suspicions of her lover’s interest in the instrument.

The violinist explains that he has petite mal which had become worse and fearing an attack during a concert he had given up performing, except for his neighbours.

Despite providing an alibi Montalbano is able to establish that the woman had gone to the airport to pick up the lover and he had murdered. The episode opens with the woman late at night calling at a garage on her way to collect him.

He had significant gambling debts to the mafia and learning that she had a valuable violin he had murdered the woman and replaced the violin with a factory made one. His actions had been witnessed by the young man with learning difficulties who had then been killed by the police. He had developed a bad foot which had swollen so he had removed a shoe which was had held when he emerged from the case as requested.

At the police station there is a uniformed officer who appears clumsy and who Montalbano and his colleagues find a nuisance as well as a joke. When they are asked to send someone on a course to learn about computers he appears the ideal candidate. When he returns he presents his certificate which indicates he was the best student on the course and which appears to have been run on the mainland for forces throughout Italy. They are surprised and impressed by the achievement and see their colleague in a new light.

During the episodes there is contact between Montalbano and the attractive teacher who leaves a message at one point to say she has information which could of assistance. They live close to each other in a coastal town and she calls one evening to see him with the information. He does not invite her to stay because he is busy working on papers related to the case but before she departs she indicates she is open to his calling on her at anytime for anything signalling that she has found her man. As the case ends and his relationship with his long term partner at a distance has reached crisis point because they both appreciate that the boy has found somewhere he wants to stay, Montalbano seriously considers taking up the offer of the young woman and drives to where the teacher lives. We here his thoughts that the case had been one full of mistakes. He drives away deciding that to call however inviting would have been another mistake. He contacts his long term partner to say that he would like to come and visit that weekend. She is pleased with the news and will pick him up at the airport.

Sparticus Vengeance episodes 1-3

I assumed the creators of the successful blood and sex story of Spartacus the Thracian would find a way of continuing after he and his fellow gladiators had escaped from heartrending capability called a ludus, killing the couple in charge and going off to free their comrades and destroy their Roman captors. The motivation of Spartacus remained the Roman officer who had killed his people and sold him and his wife into separate slavery. There was a similar quest for his rival Crixus the Gaul who is in search of Naevia who was taken away shortly before the massacre which end the first series although were treated to a prequel in which Spartacus did nit feature,

"Fugitivus" covers the first days of their freedom as the two men lead and train others who agree to follow. Glaber the nemesis of Spartacus has become a Praetor -Not just Commander of an army but also holder of the important role of Magistrate which was that of a governor as well as Judge, in fact a local or regional autocrat. He is told by his father in law to abandon the good life he experiences and go off and capture Spartacus while Illithyia pregnant, with the child of Spartacus, we suspect, is unwilling to travel back to Capua with her husband for obvious reason but he having been commanded, commands her to be at his side.

The two take up residence in the somewhat derelict ludus being the best location in town where we have the surprise of the series in that Lucretia, the scheming wife of Batiatus who we witnessed stabbed to death awash with blood, survived and is living there. She is holds the secret of Illithyia who bedded Spartacus instead of Crixus as she had desired both in masks of gold. She is not compos mentis which is some compensation.

Oenomaus (the former chief man Doctore) who given his freedom and has left he ludus with honour before the uprising and massacre, feels that his sense of honour has therefore been badly damaged by these events and appears to live in the shadows of the City. He does warn Spartacus and Crixus that Glaber has returned with his men but this only acts as a red flag for Spartacus Vengeance. There is a battle after which Spartacus and Crixus agree that their best course is to move south of the city to recoup their strength and mount their campaign and also look for Naevia who Crixus has been told has been passed to one user after another. They free slaves as they make their way, giving the option of joining them in the struggle.

This factual account omits the graphic violence and nudity and sex! Something which one announcer explained was a warning if you would be offended and an invitation if this was your kind of thing.

"A Place in This World is the title of the second episode. There is sex and bloodshed as they encounter and ruthlessly kill a wealthy Roman at a villa in he countryside who admits he owned Naevia, used her and passed her on, who tells them that he owned Naevia for a short time before selling her to another villa owner further south.

The newly freed slaves of the villa are afraid of the sudden freedom, especially a young male named Tiberius, who used to be in a high position among the slaves. Tiberius attempts to kill Spartacus during the night, but fails. Spartacus will not see young Tiberius killed as repayment for the attempt, but would train him. A potentially big mistake.

Meanwhile in Capua, the recovering Lucretia receives messages from the Gods in a dream on how to defeat Spartacus. Glaber believes in her new status of Prophetess if only from public approval. In the Capua marketplace, Lucretia receives a note from a mysterious stranger.

In a flashback sequence, Oenomaus relives his purchase from the Pit by Titus Lentulus Batiatus in his youth, the discovery of honour and purpose of becoming a Champion. Oenomaus, in his search for death, faces many opponents in the Pits and after he is weakened from a fight, he is taken to the villa before Glaber by a mysterious stranger. The mysterious stranger is unmasked to reveal Ashur, former nefarious right-hand man of Quintus Batiatus, who is working in secret with Lucretia to some unknown ends. Tis resurrection day!

In the Greater Good Spartacus and crew free another band of slaves destined for the dreaded Mines. A slaver with his dying breath says that Naevia lives but is suffering in harsh servitude in the Mines. The man learning this news lies and tells Crixus he has heard Naevia is dead.

In Capua, Ashur using his usual methods attempts to beak the silence of Oenomaus about the location of the rebels. Ashur then taunts Oenomaus that his wife betrayed him for Gannicus his closest friend at the Ludus and former champion before Spartacus. Unintentionally he reveals that the purpose of move south was the search for Naevia.

Unfortunate Crixus learns the truth that his woman lives in the mines and Spartacus and some of the others support Crixus in his search and disguise themselves as slaves and as guards, Glaber who is under pressure to find and deal with Spartacus also learns of development and send his troops to the mines to await accompanied by Ashur.

Crixus is briefly reunited with Naevia, but they are overcome by soldiers. Crixus sacrifices himself for their escape, and Ashur delivers the blow that causes Crixus to fall dead or unconscious perhaps. Meanwhile in Capua there is another Games although the gladiators are of poor quality and the crowd restless although with some blood lust and nudity the crowd pleasure hots up.

Mad Dogs Season Two

The second series of Mad Dogs begins unsurprisingly where the first series ended, but with a twist. The four episode programme was watchable because of the setting on a hot arid Spanish Island as four male friends whose lives are in various forms of dissatisfaction and decline accept the invitation to meet up again for the first time in yonks at the isolated villa of a fifth who has made his fortune in property and who at one point says he is leaving the villa to the four so they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. It emerges he needs to validate his life and for protection and help.

Although he appears well set up it is quickly evident that he is involved in a drug based crime gangs and corrupt police officers which leads to “borrowing” a boat and finding themselves in the possession of three million euros from the drug trade. As they become caught up in violence and a deaths they also encounter a corrupt police woman engage in ex marital or casual sex and admit that their lives are not as they like to present to others. The TV series is not to confused by the Robert Muchamore crime drama Mad Dogs which is also about the world of Drugs but in that instance two gangs fighting out a Turf War

The mini series works because of the interactions between Philip Glennister as Quinn, Mark Warren as Rick, John Simms as Baxter and Max Beasley as Woody who were once boys out chasing girls and drinking on weekend nights but have since gone their separate ways and now attracted to changing their lives albeit involving stealing money from a dreadful trade and which is something they are inept at. They want to be fully in control of their lives once more when the point of the first series as becomes apparent in the second is that they are not only being manipulated by others but have become no more than puppets whichever turn they take at junctions they encounter and where they always make the worst possible choice.

As the first series ended the four have been given the opportunity to get off the island and go home leaving their host to his fate. They return to find their friend dying and in order to survive themselves they run over the corrupt male detective and shoot the corrupt policewoman. The only thing which appears to make the return worthwhile is that they have acquired the three million and the closed safe holding their mobile phones which would identify them to the authorities and the criminals in pursuit, they appear to have got away to a new life

In the panic to get away they fail to check that they are getting on the right ferry and instead of crossing to the mainland at Barcelona they find themselves on the party Island of Ibiza.

Amazingly although this appears to be the height of the summer season they are able to get a beach front apartment where they decide to try and launder some of the money as the local casino. Admittedly I have only engaged in Greek Island hoping on foot ferry and organised coach and in Spain taking local boats to isolated beaches but the notion of being able to drive on to the wrong ferry strikes me as impossible and the idea that it is possible anywhere in Europe to walk in to a Casino without established accounts and gamble sums of any substance without passports is also absurd as these four characters should all well know. Similarly the ability to transfer sums of cash via wire services without similar security controls is ludicrous. You have to have the right contacts who know and trust you and who will take the disproportionate amount for their trouble unless you are already an established part of the scene and have separate bargaining chips.
The consequence if all this is that two enjoy the second season four parter you have to suspend the brain. Their predicament is that that only one of four has anything to enjoy, in terms of a brief fling with the one female they encounter.

At the Casino Baxter is approached by a mysterious young woman, Carmen who reveals she knows they are changing money, and offers to help them which involves taking the money away to a third party for a percentage. She leave her mother with them as a kind of hostage although it appears that they make no checks that she is the real mother and not just some contact who is paid to entertain the men until the money is secreted out of their control. If the young woman failed to return what in reality would they do to or with the older woman. Absurd. They arrange to collect the clean money in the middle of no where only to witness their car exploding before they get back to it.

In the second episode the four take cover from the jacketed and helmeted individual on a motorbike who had delivered the cash and who they assume was behind the exploding hired car. How the car came to be wired up is not explained and if they had been inside the money would have been destroyed along with them.

Nearby is an abandoned village with still functioning church and a still stocked bar and an old woman care taker with breathing difficulties so she hunks round a air cylinder and follows the old religion so she kills a goat and makes a circle with the blood to enable to four to spend the night in peace within the church where they hide the money within the statue of the Madonna. The girl arrives and she and Baxter have sex while two others work out how to give themselves up to the authorities, put the blame on the other two and get out of the predicament. Quinn is in a constant state of panic and wanting to get out of the situation crosses the protective psychological black arts old religion barrier and is apprehended by the henchmen of the man whose money they had taken and who has his base on Ibiza which appears to be no more than a small in town and caravan on a holiday site. The big boss is Mackenzie played by the excellent David Warner who insists they give back every cent of the two million or be killed. Because of their money changing transaction and other expenditure they are 114000 euro’s short and they have 24 hours to make up the difference. Returning to their beach front base with the girl they find the man who changed the money for them hanged in an adjacent balcony.

In the third episode they discover or at least we the audience do that the friend who hand brought them together at his villa had worked for Mackenzie and then wanted out but he had been pressured into doing one more job in which they had become entangled. It is here the series becomes farcical as they are be able to raise about half the missing money from their contacts back home who are able to liquidate the assets and wire within the available time. They break into the safe they brought with them after realising that it contained cash as well as their phones. They trade in a Rolex and they steal the cash raised by those pavement artists who cover themselves in paint and pretend to be statues. They are 100 euro short and he tells them it is the full amount or else. Interestingly there is a wedding taking place when they to collect the money from the Madonna in the deserted village church. Just where did all the people come from? The old woman looks at them sadly as if knowing it will not work out well for them

Mackenzie decides that they will make up the missing money undertaking a task for him which is to yield 5 million euros after which they can go home ( you think?). Quinn stays behind as hostage and he will be shot if they fail to return having completed the task. Again they are given a short deadline.

The task involves a long trek in the midday sun across salt basins where in the middle of nowhere there is a stone hut in which are the ingredients to make 5 million euros worth of designer ecstasy tablets which they proceed to make overnight having been given the detailed instructions and they then deliver to the pre-arranged buyer sampling Ibiza nightlife in the process. They complete the job seconds before their mate is about to be executed and then Mackenzie tells them they can not only go but keep the money. He also tells them how they can get off the island quickly because the purchaser of the tablets was under the impression he was buying top quality when in fact what they had made was rubbish. Therefore they have to leave quietly as well as quickly so he recommends an empty container lorry.

Baxter is still having serious intentions about Carmen and leaves with the plan for her and her mother to join him in Barcelona. However the one container lorry they choose takes them to Morocco and where they open the doors to find some armed officials waiting for their money. So there is to be a third series with the men penniless in Morocco and having yielded all their assets back home. What a load of plonkers.

3D TV

It is time to write about the wondrous experience of 3D TV which provides a new dimension to the home view but which for some such as me will have the negative effect of reducing any lingering enthusiasm for attending live sport and other cultural entertainments unless in the position to afford the best seats and transport arrangements and can watch in warmth and general comfort.

I used to argue as I took a coach to watch a football game arriving back in the middle night or paid a fortune for the best seats at Wembley to watch my Cup final team lose twice in quick succession that there was nothing to beat participation with others in a live event. This changed over time because of the drunken behaviour of supporters at International Cricket matches although I can say I was there when Ian Botham won the Ashes and back in my youth when plain Christopher Chattaway broke the world three mile record at the White City. I have also seen Bruce Springsteen live three times but top of the list by along long way I can say I was there at Live Aid Wembley 13th July 1985.

I have also wanted to see the great opera singers of the my generations sing in the great Opera House of the World Convent Garden, The Metropolitan, Madrid and Milan and then came the HD relay from the Metropolitan with Madam Butterfly, Aida, Turandot, La Boheme, Il Trovatore and La Traviata also enjoying Satyagraha, and being tempted by Don Carlos, Simon Boccanegra, Hamlet with several others on the Met Payer then there was Carmen first enjoyed at the Met but then the amazing and brilliant 3D version of Carmen from Covent Garden where now have the DVD.

But it was the World Cup Final which did it. I had watched the disappointing England’s game in big screen 2D for free at the Odeon Metrocentre in an atmosphere of an enthusiastic audience but in comfort and with the nest seats in the house, but the Final was something else where one felt part of the live audience, standing over the shoulder of the referee or remonstrating alongside the manager. The development of 3D 20 20 games of cricket, the Wimbledon final and the prospect of 3D Olympic games.

As previously explained I had watched in theatre three feature films in 3D: Journey to the Centre of the Earth to judge the latest experience (02 Cineworld in London) then Alice in Wonderland in a packed Saturday evening crowd in Mansfield and then Avatar locally to see what all the fuss was about in relation to the particular film. I may have seen decades ago such films as the House of Wax and the Rue Morgue murders and I still have somewhere the cardboard frame red and green hand held glasses.

The present 3D formats are a comparative new with Wikipedia differentiating between 3D feature films released between 1952 and 2004 and those since which in the English Language have numbered about 120 with over 20 so far scheduled for release during the present year. About a sixth of the post 2004 films I have seen in theatre or on TV in 2D: Clash of the Titans and Avatar on TV such as Bolt, Chicken Little, Clash of the Titans, Coraline, Despicable Me, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and he Deathly Hallows Part 2 (a portion of the films is available in 3D Imax theatres), How to Train your Dragon, Shrek Ever After, Superman Returns, Toy Story 1 and 2, The Lion King and Tron Legacy and Up. I have seen on TV 3D: TV Cats and Dogs the Revenge of Kitty Galore(not yet reviewed); The Last Air Bender; The Tron Legacy; Battle for Terra; Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga Hoole; Jackass 3D; The Chronicles of Narnia The Voyage of the Dawn Trader; Gulliver’s Travels (to be reviewed); The Green Hornet; Priest (reviewed below); and Pirates of the Caribbean Strange Tides(11) with coming up Clash of the Titans (recorded on Sunday) now) and Avatar later this week. Of those that can be expected to appear for free on the Channel, I look forward to Beowulf, How to Train your Dragon, Shrek forever After, The Toy Story films, Sanctum, Rio (already pay view), Thor (already pay view) Conan the Barbarian (already pay view), Hugo and Arthur Christmas and Alice in Wonderland which already has been freeview (13) a comparatively small addition to those so far released

Looking ahead to releases during the next 15 months that have been announced one will attract me to a theatre: The first of Hobbit films- An Unexpected Journey. But in time presumably at least a year from release I am hoping to see on TV Titanic, Men in Black, 3 Journey to Mysterious Island (2), Wrath of the Titans, Ice Age Continental Drift, and Rise of the Guardians.

It is however a mistake to regard 3D in film as something new as between 1952 and 2004 about 150 full feature films were released in the English Language. However a flip through the titles reveals that few were seen in 2D: Bugs, Dial M for Murder, Jaws, Kiss Me Kate, Miss Sadie Thompson, and The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, Shrek (9).

It is also known that about 60 3D feature films have been released in Russia and about another 60 in the rest of the world.

I watched Priest 3D this evening in preference to Chelsea’s Game against Manchester United having thoroughly enjoyed Newcastle’s 2.1 win against Aston who proved worthy opponents at St James’s Park. Mr Ba is back from his country’s early exit from the Africa Cup and scored the opening goal which the Villa equalised in the first half extra time. £10 million January purchase Cisse scored a brilliant second to take the match during the second half. Newcastle is now 5th two points ahead of Arsenal and one point behind Chelsea who were only able to draw at home against Manchester United after being 3.0. Sunderland who had an important win against Stoke in game which just about survived a blizzard have move well into the top half of the table in eighth behind Liverpool although there is a gap of 5 points between them.

I was interested in the title Priest not having learned much about the content other than it involved creatures described as vampires although these are animal like creatures and someone called Priest as well as Priests, of a kind.

The film takes place in a parallel universe in which human beings live in a city without sunlight are subject of a Catholic type order who require obedience and regular confessions using visual Internet communication.

In the prologue a group of specialist “priests” trained to kill the creatures are deployed to finish off those remaining creatures by removing the last known Queen. The so called priests are in effect an elite order of fighters trained in martial arts of both sexes who are sworn to the service and celibacy. In this Mission Paul Bettany as the “Priest” fails to held onto a comrade who slips down into chasm below and is presumed dead after the team have been caught in trap but part from the one death they are successful in their mission. For some reason they do not have ropes with them or others to check their colleague is dead and to retrieve his body.

In fact I do not understand why the Mission was ended at this point and they and their superiors believe the creatures had been eliminated. However the elite corps were not just disbanded on return to the City but sidelined because the impression is given that the leader of the Council of Monsignors Christopher (South of Music) Plummer feared they would become a threat to the established order and their power continuing.

Some distance outside the city as in all similar stories there is the waste land with prisons containing outcasts being infected by the vampires but not killed or eaten as well as other developments, civilian outposts including Sheriff administrators/lawmen.

Here we find a family comprising husband wife and daughter, the latter a rebel with a tendency to make visits on her into town (where she has established a relationship with the local Sheriff who has a resemblance to Brad Pitt (Cam Gigandet as Sheriff Hicks, although we only learn this after a scene where suddenly a tribe of vampire animals appear and in a scene reminiscent of Somewhere over the Rainbow and a number of other films there is a storm/defence cellar. The woman is killed and husband survives in a bed ridden condition and the daughter has been taken which suggest there is a purpose to the raid as yet to be revealed as well as someone who would know or knew about the panic room cellar.

In the City Sheriff Hicks arrives to advise Priest of the attack on his brother and the taking of the daughter, a young woman he loves. Priest appears to reject the request to help but in fact he needs permission which he seeks from the Council of Monsignors but although he has a supporter Plummer is adamant that there are no more vampires and it was an attack by renegade outlanders.

Priest decides to become an outlaw and a team of former priests are brought together to follow and arrest him including a former admirer of his Maggie Q as Priestess.

Checks out the home of his brother and meets up with Sheriff Hicks and they join forces and we have another familiar situation where the night is used to prepare doctored bullets with the Holy Crosses. They enter a prison of affected and renegades where the guards appear to have abandoned their duties. The explanation is that the community is now controlled by vampires working with the former inmates who are allowed to live their lives as they now wish.

At some point we learn that the girl has been captured by the former Priest comrade who was believed to have fallen to his death who later we learn was recovered by the Queen vampire who turned him into a human vampire with combined powers which makes him invincible against humans and he has a master plan to take over and “cleanse“ the known world. As is the case with this type f films the known worlds is a small one restricted to an area conveniently in the United States.

There are various conflicts before the duo is joined by the Priestess, work out that a minor army of creatures has been formed and broken out of the hive under the cover of darkness towards an outland town where they kill everyone in sight and also crucify on a trio of crosses the priests who had stationed themselves in the town in the search for their outlawed former comrade. The vampires had disappeared and the trio after marking the loss of their colleagues work out that they have hijacked a mining train with metal container wagons to protect from the daylight which means the army is next heading for the capital city which because it is undercover from sunlight offers no protection from the Vampires.

They devise a plan for priestess to blow up the train while Priest and Sheriff attempt to rescue the daughter. It has been revealed that she is Priest’s daughter and he had been taken to be trained in his role when she was a baby. There is still potential conflict between Priest and Sheriff if the girl has become infected. Priestess is chased by a posse of affected motorcycle riders on space age vehicles which can travel at 250k an hour. Unfortunately in the following battle the detonator is destroyed so Priestess attaches the explosives to her machine and heads for the train. Sheriff confronts some of the hive who are able to function within the storage cars and eventually there is a confrontation between the former colleagues who argues the Vampire are creatures of truth and beauty and this is why he is using them to cleanse the city(ies) of their corruption.

In the climax the train blows up in spectacular fashion killing the human vampire but all four of the others miraculously survive. The girl and Sheriff ride off into sunset and Priest attends a service of the Monsignors to report he was right and they need to prepare for further attacks as the Queen remains alive. He continues to be disowned and goes for to campaign with Priestess and those they can persuade to act with them, thus heralding a sequel. It is there a below standard film reshoot in 3D but not in a distracting way. I rated it only 5 out of 10

I have included the review at this point to demonstrate that a C class cannot become a B or Class film through the inclusion of 3D. Where in fact the new medium triumphs is with sport with other media and with documentaries, although the same principle applies.

A boring game of football or one which has little appeal remains a boring game of football or a match with little appear whether it is 2D HD or 3D. To-date there have been no live S D games which do not concern Sunderland or Newcastle which are outstanding as games, until Sunday after when Manchester United fought from three goals down at Chelsea to tie the match 3.3. Different considerations apply for games involving Sunderland and Newcastle where 3 D is a great bonus but as with other games and indeed other sporting events if the game goes badly or fails to live up to expectations one has the ability to switch channels or switch off. One is not faced with walking out of a stadium having invested in a season ticket and made the journey to walk out, although I did note that there were far many more empty seats at matches broadcast over the weekends, I suspect because of the weather conditions than the televising. I have also watched some golf, darts and the Horse of the Year Show at Earls Court but only to confirm the superior quality of the transmission rather than through interest in the event.

Last summer I marvelled at the cost and the scale of the production behind the European Tour of the reformed Take That concert at Sunderland where my seat was at the far end of the stadium from the stage but where the performance area was extended to over midway along the length of the arena. Earlier on I commenced what proved to be a two hour complete recording of Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite Les Follies show at the 02 arena I have not been a fan of the music although I have followed the career from the days when she appeared in the Australian Soap Neighbours with Jason Donovan as young people through to her courageous successful fight against cancer. Her show at the O2 was a remarkably well staged production in which she showed herself exceptionally talented and willing to undertake aerial acquabatics which are sensational 3D considerable enhanced the experience and I am keeping the show recorded until such time I come across one better which hopefully will be the U2 concert in the future along with some operas, other music features and several documentaries. On the other hand Imelda May who impressed with her performance on the end of the year show by you know who name suddenly escaped disappointed to some extent with her Isle of Wight concert appearance. She is a made up to look forties big band swingtime singer who lacked the diva commanding x factor, She is good and B Class but not top ranking as the late Amy Winehouse who is broadly in the same genre.

The unexpected revelation has been the number of documentary programmes which have now been added.

The first is a series of 8 short programmes providing a bird’s eye view of the UK. It has long been an ambition to visit as many towns and cities, country houses, lakes, the rivers and the mountains of my birth land having in the past toured extensive Scotland with annual visits for over a decade in past times and extensive visits to North Wales when based in Cheshire as well as holiday visits to Devon and Cornwall as well as visiting areas around where I have lived in London, Oxfordshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire ( Wakefield-Loftus or made short stays to Hull, Beverely, Leeds, Bradford Scarborough, Skipton and Harrogate) and here in the North East as well as a year In Birmingham at the University professional and managerial visits to, and stays of four months in total in Manchester and three in, Norfolk, two weeks in Cambridge, Isle of Wight, Isle of Sheppy; a week in Suffolk and less than a week in places such as. Bristol, Bournmouth, Coventry, Nottinghamshire, Worcester, Sussex, Hampshire Lancashire(Oldham) Liverpool come to mind and dozens of football towns mostly on day trips but sometimes with overnight or longer stays and similarly en route to London where an overnight stop enabled a visit to a Country or market town. I have visited more parts of London since not living there than when I did. There are places I have not visited and he birds eye view reminded of what I would like to do but may not have time to visit.

I am unlikely to travel to beloved France again where I have toured extensively as well as holiday stays or with stopovers en route to Spain so I was delighted to see what appeared to be a series of Bird Eye views of France commencing with the coastline and then of Paris. Alas the Paris edition never materialised despite being heralded.

I would appreciate programmes on Italy, Venice and various sites in Greece. There has one programme devoted to London and Venice but this was limited unlike Fiona Bruce programmes on Chatsworth and Blenheim where I had a picnic in the grounds shortly before they were opened to the public in splendid isolation with a group of Ruskin students before the property had got itself organised as a world wide tourist attraction. I was interested to see the present Duke who presided over an Adult Court when Marquess of Blandford at Burford when I was a court officer for the local authority in the 1960’s and his wife was at chaired the juvenile court bench. The Devonshire’s in contrast have regarded Charsworth as a public use for generations In both instances 3D provided an intimate and private experience which one does not get as part of the hoi purlloi.

I had anticipated there would something on the roller coaster with a programme on a facility in the USA which boasts he biggest thrill experiences and indeed the reality is only for the brave and foolish. I remember there was a similar attempt at creating reality with the first Cinerama experiences which I saw in the West End taking my birth and care mothers on one occasion and also How the West was won where the joins to create the attempted wrap around screen were all too evident.

I am unlikely to visit he Western costal resorts of the USA where various sports from hang gliding’ and water surfing skateboarding, roller skating, beach volley ball, horse riding and jogging take place on a massive scale with some reaching international competitiveness. There has been an air show also in the USA with a party expiring Grand Canyon a true awe inspiring experience which is included in the main list of feature films by Wikipedia.

A visit to the tropical gardens and beaches and natural habitat of the Hawaiian Islands was revelatory as the tour of Washington. A visit to the Great Barrier Reef had impact. I was not attracted to the life the Penguin despite being narrated by David Attenborough although with the use of CGI the film about prehistoric flying creature was impressive. Perhaps the most wondrous is the Universe.

I was surprised to see a short film on the Royal Wedding which alas did not cover the service and which should herald what is to come as Queen Elizabeth celebrates 50 years as the monarch. However the most extraordinary is another short film of selected 3D film taken by the Third Reich. One fears their may be more film taken of the horrors of their war in addition to shots of guns, rallies and close up still of Hitler and his associates. I say this because of the excellent full length feature on the history of the 3D by Dr Brian May, the former member of Queen who has made a lifelong study of the subject and has a major collection of 3D stills from the earliest times. Sir David Attenborough

My conclusion is that it is good medium to watch programmes which interests but I cannot see it becoming the standard until the effects can be achieve without the use of glasses. Knowing human abilities and capacities this will come but I suspect not in my life time unless I am able to live far longer than presently anticipated.