"Canal. Cinema. Curry and the Cricket"

Thanks for watching and welcome to Part 7 from my self-published book in August 2023, "The Spirit of Cricket".

Please see the link below for the paperback version of this, my fourth self-published book, and three ways in which you could support me and poke the traditional publishers in the eye who refused to even read my manuscript!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF4FRKSH

https://www.patreon.com/TheBlackfordBookClub
https://www.paypal.me/TheBlackfordBookClub
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/steveblackford

Here's a snippet from the chapter itself, and chapter 14 out of a total of 41 from a book I'm immensely proud of:

"Following yesterday’s deep dive into the murky waters of the internet I largely steered my particular boat clear of that morass of the macabre today and anyway, Friday’s tend to be “slow news days” (have you ever noticed that “news” just tends to disappear as if by magic over the weekend?) or a “good day to bury bad news” and who in their right mind wants to go digging for bad news? Not me Jack, and especially as I had a plan to uphold today, and it all went rather well. First it was an early morning return to the canal, the Shropshire Union to be exact, and the beautifully tranquil canal town of Wheaton Aston on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. Without the Summer sunshine it was a refreshing stroll full of the usual greetings of “Good Morning!” and “Hello!” from pleasure boaters and towpath walkers alike, with the highlight being a canal boat that, by hook or by crook, had been turned 90 degrees so as to have its stern rubbing against a fellow boat and its bow firmly against the edge of the canal. In essence, the boat was square to the thin confines of the canal and firmly stuck! With the diesel fumes roaring from the back of the canal boat I quickly retreated to “Tavern Bridge” in the centre of town to watch the chaos unfold whilst mindful that not 20 feet from this ailing and rigidly stuck boat was a turning circle that enabled such a feat rather more simply!

With Wheaton Aston home to a canal lock, you often find a turning circle that enables boaters to turn around should they not wish to tackle these unwieldy locks, but as I stood on the bridge with a gathering crowd, this boat was going nowhere fast!

But I was, as I had a film to watch at the cinema.

Today saw the release of “Asteroid City”, the eleventh film from Texas born filmmaker Wes Anderson and to say I was (a) excited beyond measure and (b) the biggest fan of the director this side of the Moonrise Kingdom, would be a grand understatement even for me. Every trope and signifier of a Wes Anderson film was here, differing cinematic ratios (he flits between the old school ratio of 4:3 and the more traditional widescreen ratios of 1.77:1 or 2.39:1) and all the while regularly setting up the coming three Acts by reverting to black and white (4:3 ratio) for the introductions before the widescreen shots were in vibrant, dazzling colour. There was a man hanging out of a window (in every Wes Anderson film), the camera static before jolting moves to the left and right with the surreal narrative on screen and an ensemble, all star cast provided a quirky and off kilter story set in 1955 surrounding the titular asteroid, the testing of the Atomic Bomb and of course, visiting aliens. The only regular aspect of a Wes Anderson film that was largely missing was his use of overhead shots on everyday objects as well as a classical zoom in close up on his film’s hero or heroine, but what was also largely missing was the surreal comedy he bathes his films in and after smiling my way through an extraordinary beginning I went in search of the comedic laughs and sadly didn’t encounter many.

Since leaving the cinema I’ve mused long and hard on the film and at the time of writing I’m a mixture of befuddled and disappointed. It is beautiful, stunning even and yet again in the director’s style has an unreal picture-book quality to it and one of the many reasons for my quarter of a century of adoration for the American director. In many ways it’s the most Wes Anderson film Wes Anderson has ever created, but there’s something missing besides the comedy and despite the film bordering on the surreal it also felt like his most serious film to date full of existential angst surrounding our place in the world and so I have to report that it surprises me to note that a human heart seems missing from his new film too, a charge that can’t be levelled at this filmmaking genius for the genuine masterpieces that have come before it. Anyway, I’m going to see the film again tomorrow with my son so please don’t tell him I’ve already seen it as he’ll be furious I went without him today!

Can we keep this a secret between ourselves and I’ll report back tomorrow as to my findings when I watch the film again?"

Thanks for watching!