I'm Afraid I Can't Do That, Dave

I thought this - "Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Simon Evans  - was a moving piece of writing.

I am glad to have composed the music for "Marine A"...

...a powerful, thought-provoking, feature-length doc directed by Stephen Bennett and coming soon to Channel 4.

If you or someone you know is interested - on 21st June I will be doing a Peer to Peer talk about Composing for Media for New Music Scotland. Booking info here.

Talking of Channel 4, I remembering stumbling across 12 Angry Men in my youth, back when Channel 4 + weekend nights + black and white films all added up to some kind magical nostalgia foretold. I've seen it since - the film and a couple of live performances of the play -  but I watched it again the other week and loved it all over again. 

But if Henry Fonda and Lee J Cobb saw these, they'd probably be two angry men:

Lee J Cobb

Henry Fonda

I remember Alex Chilton declaring Cobb in on On The Waterfront to be one of great comic performances in film. Haven't watched that for a while.

I also re-watched the wonderful 2001:A Space Odyssey. 

Thus spake a certain 13 year-old who watched it with me: "I don't how the director understood his own thoughts."

We gave The Hairy bikers gin key lime pie recipe a go. I think I screwed up at the beating-the-eggs-and-lime-zest stage. Och well.

I recommend this:

More drawings. Try and spot:

Nicholas Parsons, Alan Alda, Tony Robinson, Su Pollard, Dave Allen, Lance Pervical, Reece Shearsmith, me, my pal Harry Pye, Anna Ford, Joan Bakewell, Bill Forsyth, Alan Alda, Nicola Benedetti, Ray Liotta (RIP), Kenny Everett, John Bird, John Fortune, Terry Nutkins, Bob Hoskins, Stanley Kubrick, Brendan Gleason, Sue Perkins, Benny Andersson and Tony "Zero" Revolori, 

Good night and may your god go with you.

Writings and Drawings

 Apparently I spend too much money on stamps and postcards...

I saw Scottish Opera's Don Giovanni. My second Mozart opera.  It was fab.

I can recommend this BBC Sounds Putin podcast.

Started watching Conversations With Friends.

I enjoyed working on the music for "Great British History Hunters". (I may have been slightly influenced by the wonderful The Detectorists which I have just started re-watching; like spending easy time with an old pal you haven't seen in yonks.)

Loved this (thanks, BAFTA Scotland):

Meanwhile....

"Inside Central Station" is coming back for a 4th series so I had to go and mime playing the piano that sits on Glasgow Central concourse. 

Pretend piano a few days ago.

A fellow traveller got his phone out and asked if I could play The Yellow Rose Of Texas. Reader, I couldn't.

Enjoying this. Finely overwritten.

This orange almond cake recipe (no butter, no flour) is still glorious.

And still I draw... 

Try and spot Russ Abbot, Terry Jones, Colin Welland, Bela Lugosi, Walt Disney, Dean Martin, Roger Lloyd-Pack, me, poor Sally Hawkins again (sorry again, Sally!), Iain Cuthbertson, Andy Stewart, John Thaw, Dennis Potter, Patrick McGoohan, Lance Percival, Colin Jeavons, George Kennedy and Nigel Bruce....