Tag Archives: media

1975 – Two Films & One Album

media, Music, nostalgia, society, Springsteen, the hippy, , , , ,

Getting old sucks, but I don’t need to tell you that. You’ll find out on your own, if you’re lucky/unlucky (delete as appropriate). I find it really weird to be able to say shit like “50 years ago blah, blah, blah”, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do. How’s that for a warm up?

Fifty years ago this year, two films, and one album came out that remain on my list of all time favourites. All three are well worth remembering, and revisiting. And if you’ve never enjoyed them yourself, then let the 50th anniversary of all three be the nudge you need to check them out. 

The first film is “Jaws”, and if you’ve never seen it, you absolutely should. It was the very first big summer blockbuster. I don’t mean it was the first big Hollywood movie, but it was the first hyped-up film released in the summer, that went on to set box office records. But it wasn’t just a commercial success, the film was also critically acclaimed.

“Jaws” was promoted heavily, and had a lot of pre-release buzz surrounding it, prior to it’s debut. The way the film was successfully marketed became the blueprint on how to advertise new films. The pre-release excitement had people queuing around the block just to get a ticket.

I was 12 years old in 1975, and I got caught up in the massive hype too. The film was based on a very successful novel of the same name, written by Peter Benchley. In anticipation of the film, I devoured the paperback, much like a great white shark might, in big giant bites. And I read it more than once.

The film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. They omitted a minor subplot involving Chief Brody’s wife having an affair with Matt Hooper. It was a smart decision, as it would have been a distraction, and it would have made the character bond between Brody and Hooper weaker.

I saw the film at the very first screening on opening day. The film was a blast, and a half! Dramatic, exciting, action-packed, and just a tiny bit gory. Who knew shark attacks could be so messy?

The shark in the film, named “Bruce” by the crew, was a practical effect. There was no CGI back in the olden days. Could they make the shark look better today? Of course they could. Should they remake the film? OMG no no NO! The film still stands up today, and is as watchable now, as it was when I saw it in 1975. It’s extremely entertaining.

The second film I’d like to highlight from 1975 is “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, which was also wildly popular, though the subject matter was far less commercially appealing.

Based upon the 1962 Ken Kesey novel, the film went on to sweep all five major academy awards; Best film, best screenplay (adapted), best director, best actor, and best actress. It was also a commercial success, and surprisingly funny, considering the seriousness of the subject matter. 

Michael Douglas was one of the producers on the film. At one point, his father, Kirk Douglas, was attached to star in the it, but that was more than a decade before this version was produced.

The story centres around Randall Patrick McMurphy,  a boisterous, somewhat morally challenged, wise-ass, petty criminal, who feigns mental illness, and his locked up in a psychiatric hospital. He does this to avoid a worse fate, hard labour in prison. McMurphy is played by the great Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s performance really drives the film. It is easily one of his best.

Jack Nicholson is one of my all time favourite actors. And he’s my homeboy, as we’re both originally from the same bit of the Jersey shore, though I didn’t know it back then.

McMurphy’s nemesis in the film is Nurse Ratched, played by Louise Fletcher. She is in charge of the ward in the mental hospital he ends up in, and she sees wise-cracking McMurphy as a threat to her authority. Both Fletcher and Nicholson won well deserved Oscars for their performances in the film. 

And if you’re really paying attention, you should spot a young Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in the supporting cast. The film was rated “R” in America. As I was only 12 years old, it meant I wouldn’t be admitted unless an adult accompanied me. I was ultra-hyped for the film, having read countless articles, and reviews about it, as well as seeing clips on TV. I spent weeks begging my father to take me to see it.

My dad wasn’t really a cinema goer, and I can count the number of times he went to the cinema with me on one hand.  But I was persistent, and extra helpful around the house. He finally relented, and off we went.

I am not going to spoil the plot, as the less you know going in, the more you will enjoy it. As I said, there are parts that are laugh out-loud funny, but there are other elements that are extremely sad. Some might even say shocking, certainly to an audience 50 years ago. I expect it would be the same for an audience today.

If you ever get the chance, watch it. You really will laugh, and you will cry, and you will thank me for turning you on to such an amazing film. 

“Born to Run”, is the album that made Bruce Springsteen a household name when it was released in 1975. All I ask is that you listen to it once. I’ve listened to it countless times, but I can remember the first time I heard it, like it was yesterday. 

It was a few years after it’s release that I went Springsteen mad, but it was hard to miss the publicity he received when “Born to Run” came out.

Sure, we have NJ in common, but I think it wouldn’t have mattered where I lived. I would have still been into his music, and would have still become a huge fan wherever I grew up. That said, it didn’t hurt that Bruce and I lived in the same area, it was actually very cool.

When the record was released, Bruce was on the front cover of both Newsweek, and Time Magazine at the same time. That was pretty much unheard of, back then. Talk about hype!

Jon Landau, who was a music critic back in the day, provided this often quoted line, after attending a Springsteen performance: “…I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen”.

Landau was right. He also went on to work with Bruce for a while, as a producer and manager. And he helped Bruce get out of his terrible first record contract, that was signed in the dark, on the hood of a car. 

The opening track of “Born to Run”, called “Thunder Road” is my absolute favourite Springsteen song. My favourite live version was recorded here in London at the Hammersmith Odeon, in 1975.

There are only 8 songs on the album, and it’s a just under 40 minutes long, but those 40 minutes insured that Bruce became one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the world. And 50 years later, that is still true. 

I would suggest you listen to “Born to Run” at least once in track listing order. Think of it as a journey, follow the stories, and see where they lead.

In the 1970s, albums were considered an art form of their own. There were even radio stations that followed a format called AOR, which stood for Album Oriented Rock. You’re actually meant to listen to them their entirety. “Shuffle” is something else that wasn’t a thing back in the olden days. 

Don’t think of all this as a homework assignment. Take it for what it is, a small, curated list of my top three pieces of media from 1975 that have more than withstood the test of time. I know there are many other films, and albums I could have name checked, but these three are special to me. One day, they might be special to you too.

After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real. 

Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.”   “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!

If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?

Branding Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats

Brexit, Politics, society, , , ,

By all rights, I should love the LibDems. They want to stop Brexit, and they want to legalise weed, two things I would like to do, too. I really should support them, but I don’t. I can’t. Not this time. 

Do you want to know why we are having a General Election right now, and not that mythical second referendum on our membership in the EU? Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats refused to join a government of national unity because of their twisted dislike of Jeremy Corbyn. 

All a government of national unity had to do was sort out a referendum. Their agreement on the terms of a caretaker administration, would have included a ‘no new legislation’ clause. In other words, all they would have done is maintain the status quo until the referendum and then the subsequent general election. And then maybe, Brexit would have finally been sorted, one way or another. Instead, we get a general election around Xmas. Ho ho ho.

Swinson’s attacks on Corbyn have left me cold. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a huge Corbyn fan, but I do respect him. He is one of the most consistent politicians I’ve ever come across, with policies that would be popular with people, if they got to hear about them. But instead, the negative campaign run against Mr. C consists of personal attacks and twisted facts. But Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t trade in personal attacks, so it’s all very one sided and unfair.

I have nothing against personal attacks, if they are warranted. For example, Boris the bully from the Bullingdon Club, has earned the personal attacks aimed at him. I really want to know how many kids he thinks he has. No one can ever really know for sure. He’s a racist, and a liar. Those are undisputed facts, unless you drink the Kool-Aid served up by the Tories. Then you dismiss the overwhelming evidence of Boris Johnson’s utter lack of character, and you press on. 

Jo Swinson would say she attacks BoJo and Corby equally, but it is a false equivalence and you can’t lump them both together. If anything, I bet Swinson’s voting record is more closely aligned with Johnson’s than Corbyn’s.

If you Google Jo Swinson, the first suggested search term is ‘voting record’. It’s not pretty reading. Austerity, the bedroom tax, and university fees, to name just a few of her greatest hits. She was part of the Tory-led coalition, which is the root cause of many problems we have in our society today. Go Jo!

I didn’t live in the UK in the 1980’s, but I know plenty of people who did. They are not fans of Maggie T, not by a long shot. I can’t imagine Ms. Swinson’s campaign for a statue in Thatcher’s honour is a vote winner either

Whooopsie!

Ms. Swinson says that she wants to stop Brexit and I believe that is true. She also wants to increase the LibDems seat count, which is also true. The problem is where these two goals collide, like in Canterbury and High Peak, where the local candidates stood aside, to allow another remain supporting party a free run at the seat. Jo Swinson”s Liberal Democrat’s won’t allow that, and have imposed new, outside candidates to take their places on the ballot. It seems that the need for seats outweighs the need to stop Brexit, as that is their primary priority. It is extremely disappointing. 

One might say that because I am a north London media, liberal elite, that I would automatically support Labour. There is a kernel of truth to that. I don’t like to brag about my liberal elite status, but sometimes, when I go to McDonalds, I supersize my meal…AND I upgrade to a shake. But only sometimes, I’m not rich, like that uppity Jacob Rees-Mogg. I heard when he goes to McDonalds, he supersizes, he upgrades to the shake and he gets a McFlurry too. Not one of those little bitty mini ones either, but full sized. Shhhhhh, don’t tell nanny!

The reason I mention my media background is because I am coming to the point of this piece. “Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats” is terrible branding. I feel like some PR agency pulled a fast one by appealing to her vanity and turning her into the literal face and name of the party.

Have you see the bus? Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats’ Bus. Have a gander:

Branding gone wrong

I can just imagine the creative agency’s pitch meeting. Have you ever seen the Monorail episode of The Simpsons? 

“Jo, you have tested through the roof with our focus groups. People love you! So we want you to be the face of the campaign. Every leaflet will have a small headshot of you on the front, and a larger photo of you on the back! 

And have you seen the bus? A close up of you, full bus height! Gorgeous! And, are you ready for this, you will love this! We are going to rebrand the whole party as “Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats!”

A breathless, jubilant Jo Swinson’s shouts, yes, yes, yes! Where do I sign?

I can actually envision this being very close to the truth.

And when I first heard about this new branding, this was my immediate thought, now expressed in graphic form:

Seriously?

It sounds like a band name or an improv group struggling to break through at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It makes the party sound like her personal possession and plaything. And that shit is plastered all over her campaign bus! It’s a branding faux pas on an epic scale. It’s the ‘New Coke’ of political reinvention. 

I’m lucky, my local MP is as anti-Brexit as they come. My MP voted against triggering Article 50, and yes, my MP is a Labour MP with a sizeable majority. But I still checked a tactical voting website to see what they recommended. And you know what, they recommended I vote Labour for the best chance of stopping Brexit. I was going to do it anyway, but it’s nice to know it’s tactical too. 

If I lived somewhere else, where voting tactically for a LibDem candidate made sense, of course I would do it. They’re not a bad bunch of people, even if their election branding is bad this go-round, and they have a history of propping up Tory governments. What matters most in this election, is stopping Brexit. Sky News have nailed the branding, they are rightly calling it the “Brexit Election”.

All of our votes count, but they really, really count this time. Your vote matters, do your homework, work out which party in your constituency is best placed to win and stop Brexit. Then hold your nose if you need to, but vote for the party helps Britain remain in the EU. Your county’s future depends on all us, including and especially, you.

The northlondonhippy is an anonymous author, cannabis evangelist and recreational drug user, who has been writing about drugs and drug use for over 15 years.  In real life, the hippy is a senior multimedia journalist with over 30 years experience of working in news.

The hippy’s book, ‘Personal Use’ details the hippy’s first 35 years of recreational drug taking, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!

“Personal Use” is available as a digital download on all platforms, including Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBooks and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. The paperback is available from all online retailers and book shops everywhere. 

You can also find the northlondonhippy on Twitter: @nthlondonhippy but only if you look really hard.

A quick post about Lord Sewel and the law

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This might be cocaine. Or it could be salt
This might be cocaine. Or it could be salt

There seems to be a lot of anger and outrage online over Lord Sewel. He allegedly snorted cocaine with hookers and made some disparaging comments about our Prime Minister of pork, while wearing ladies clothing. We know this because of an undercover newspaper sting.

The newspaper in question, The Sun, is appalled that the police didn’t prosecute him. The Met’s reason was their was lack of evidence.

Roy Greenslade of The Guardian, quite unusually, agrees with The Sun. It’s Greenslade’s piece, which you can read RIGHT HERE, that inspired me to quickly post this.

We can all sit in judgement over Lord Sewel, as many of us have been doing since the allegations were published. He cheated on his wife, with prostitutes, while allegedly taking coke. The shock, the horror.

Here’s the thing, under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, you need to be in possession of said substance, for the police to charge you. There needs to be physical evidence, that can be tested in a lab,  for the police to be able to charge someone. The evidence needs to hold up in a court of law.  A photo of alleged drug use is not conclusive proof.

While the photos may depict Lord Sewel snorting something that is thought to be cocaine, the police have no way of confirming the composition of the substance from a photo. The police did search his property, but I am sure that if anything was there,  it was and cleared and cleaned very thoroughly before that search happened.

Someone could have sold Sewel powdered sugar. How could you tell the difference from a photo? You can’t. Without physical evidence, there would be no way to charge him.

It was the same with Nigella Lawson. She may have admitted to drug use, which is a perfectly legal thing to do, as long as you don’t have any drugs on your person. She didn’t.

Drugs are not illegal. What is illegal is the act of possession. You can’t make things illegal, only actions. Possession of a drug is the illegal act and you have to be in possession of drugs to be charged and prosecuted.

If the police could make arrests for being pictured taking drugs, then a lot of people posting to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram would be in a helluva lot of trouble. Do you think the police have the time to investigate every drug related photo posted to social media? And would that be enough proof to prosecute? Of course not!

Don’t get me wrong, if you post a photo of yourself online, taking drugs, you could still inspire a property search, so I wouldn’t recommend doing it. Though I’ve seen enough of of these sorts of photos online to know that any warning won’t matter. Lots of you out there in internetland, do it, every day.

All drugs should be decriminalised. What Lord Sewel or anyone else ingests, is a private concern and should be a health matter, rather than a criminal one.

Prosecuting drug use is a waste of time, money and resources, for the police, the courts and the media. The drugs laws do more harm than drugs ever could and you are more likely to have a worse outcome if you get in trouble with the law.

We can all feel morally superior to Lord Sewel, but it’s not a matter for law enforcement. The police have done the right thing by dropping this case. On the basis of the evidence and the law, it was the correct and only decision they could make.