Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 22 Jun - 28 Jun 2015
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	144	103	161	79	82	61	64	694	99
Unique Visits	142	99	147	75	69	60	58	650	93
First Time Visits	134	94	144	73	63	57	56	621	89
Returning Visits	8	5	3	2	6	3	2	29	4

The First Avenger - RIP Patrick Macnee

He was the quintessential English gentleman - forever associated with the bowler hat and umbrella, Patrick Macnee will for many people be remembered as John Steed in the cult TV shows,The Avengers and the New Avengers. Born in 1922, Macnee's life was as colourful as the characters he often played - expelled from Eton for selling pornography and running a bookmaker business. He served in the Royal Navy during world war II. He took up acting following the war and appeared uncredited in many films before getting a role as Jacob Marley in  Scrooge(1951).

In 1961 Macnee took the role of John Steed in The Avengers, which was originally intended to be a vehicle for Ian Hendry who played Dr David Keel while Macnee was his sidekick. However Hendry left after the first series and the character of John Steed became the focus point. The series would run for six seasons with Macnee being partnered with a string of glamorous female assistants. This was the height of the James Bond/Spy mania and The Avengers became something of an odd  and very stylish, not to mention surreal 1960's masterpiece.


''So very sad to hear Pat MacNee has left us. We were mates from 1950s and I have so many happy memories of working with him. A true gent.'' Roger Moore


The show was brought back in 1976 as the New Avengers with Macnee partnered with Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Gareth Hunt as Gambit. The new series only ran for two seasons but these days is as fondly remembered as the groundbreaking earlier show.

In 1985 Macnee was back in the spy genre playing alongside Roger Moore in Moore's final Bond movie, A View to a Kill. The chemistry between the two actors is one of the high points of the movie. Macnee had of course previously appeared with Moore when he took on the role of Dr Watson to Moore's Sherlock Holmes in the terrible but oddly watchable  1976 TV movie, Sherlock Holmes in New York.

Macnee died aged 93 on June 25th 2016.

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

Currently available as paperback, audiobook and eBook.

I first picked up this book in hardcover (as I do with most of Stephen King's books), but for some reason didn't get around to reading it until the eBook became available. I do love my Kindle and find it the only way to read fiction, but that's besides the point of this review. I still buy the physical books from author's I especially like and over recent years my shelves have become stocked with copies that will remain in mint condition as electronic ink becomes my medium of choice.

At just over 400 pages, it is a slim book by King's standards and all the better for it - the story is tighter, moves at a steady pace and held my attention for the few days it took me to read it. In fact I've not enjoyed a King novel so much as this one in a long, long time, and for once the ending (never King's strongest point) is absolutely rivetting. This then, the start of the Bill Hodges trilogy (the second, Finders Keepers has just come out in hardcover) is a  bloody good, no nonsense thriller that sees King at the top of his form.

Though King has always been a fucking fantastic writer, he has lost me a few times over the years (I could never dig the Dark Tower series for instance). He even on times bored me with the padding he tended to throw into each book. It got so bad that I morphed from one of his constant readers into an occassional reader,  but ever since 11,22, 63 (2011) he's been like an unstoppable rollercoaster delivering one great book after another, with the possible exception of that millionth  Dark Tower bookie, of course. One of the most accessible of his recent books, Joyland (2013) was almost a novella by King's standard and saw King swapping his crucifix for as snub nosed .38 as he crossed into the crime/thrlller genre. It's a genre he fits well and with  Mr Mercedes, King proves himself as much a master of it as he was with horror.

 The plot - Bill Hodges is a retired cop. He spends his days slumped in from of daytime TV series, and contemplates ending it all by chewing on the end of his revolver. One of the old cases Bill was unable to solve during his time on the job involved a maniac driving a mercedes into a crowd of job seekers outside a job fair. Hodges is unsettled into the mindless boredom of retirement when he gets a taunting letter from the maniac who turned the luxury car into a deadly weapon. It seems the object behind the letter is to push Hodges along the road to chewing on his gun but ironically the letter gives the retired cop a reason to go on.

Under the Blue Umbrella, is a social network where Hodges gets to chat with the maniac and slowly events turn, and before the reader know it they are fully invested in this excellent story. Of course King's grasp of character is awe aspiring and the reader really becomes involved in the characters that populate the book, the characters become so real that we almost feel as if we've know them our entire lives -  Holly for instance is a wonderful creation, as is Jerome, and I must own up to shedding a tear when a major character is snuffed out around the half way point - there's not many writers who can turn a cynical forty something old school male into a snivelling girl but King is one such writer.

King doesn't go down the mystery thriller road and we, the readers, are introduced to the maniac, Mr Mercedes, or Brady very early in the story, and we spend much of the book walking around his inner life. And boy is his madness built up in a realitic and chilling way, nuerosis is piled on top of nuerosis as we begin to, if not emphasise then at least understand what could turn Brady into such a total bastard. Yep, this world we live in is a fucked up place.


An excellent crime thriller which Stephen King calls his first hard-boiled detective story, but I don't think it's especially hard-boiled since I usually associate the phrase hard-boiled with the paired back style of Chandler and authors of that ilk. King is much too verbose to be truly hard-boiled  but all the same the story is lean by King's usual standards.


Highly recommended.

Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 15 Jun - 21 Jun 2015
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	103	116	71	55	101	132	95	673	96
Unique Visits	99	108	62	50	98	131	90	638	91
First Time Visits	98	102	60	45	95	127	88	615	88
Returning Visits	1	6	2	5	3	4	2	23	3

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Not so HAPPY VALLEY

I don't really watch TV these days, and yet strangely I am watching more quality television shows than I ever have.

 To make sense of that let me explain -  I never watch TV as it's broadcast, and tend to catch up on shows via DVD or streaming services like Netflix.

 Because of this I'm always behind but this has the advantage of me being able to binge on entire seasons and be far more selective with my viewing. For instance last year I watched every season of Breaking Bad, back to back over a three week period - and I doubt if the show would have had the same effect had I watched it on a weekly basis and then waited several months between seasons. When you watch entire story arcs over a short period you can better appreciate the way a story has been structured, the flaws though also become evident. Quite often I'll start a show and give up after a season or two, especially if the show runs out of steam but that's getting rare these days especially as I tend to gravitate towards shows that have gathered critical acclaim.

James Norton - best screen psycho in many a year

There are times though when I will pick on a show out of curiosity and discover an absolute gem. One such case was the six part, 2014 BBC crime thriller, Happy Valley. It was only that I saw the entire series on DVD in Tesco for a measly £7 that I took the plunge. I would never have picked up this show otherwise - after all it stars one time Coronation Street actress, Sarah Lancashire (an actress I associate with gentle TV drama designed for housewives) and simply didn't seem like the sort of show I'd enjoy.

 Still it was a crime drama, the disc was cheap and so I placed it in the player - I fully expected a twee crime drama, a cross between Juliet Bravo and Midsummer Murders  but what I got was a gritty and grim thriller, a kind of British Fargo but with the humour replaced with genuine nail biting tension.

Written by Sally Wainwright who also directed the pulse pounding fourth episode, Happy Valley centres on a group of people who find themselves involved in events they are unable to control. The initial trigger is accountant, Kevin Weatherhill who annoyed with his boss over his refusal of a pay rise mentions the idea of a kidnap to local drug dealer, Ashley Cowgill. Wetherhill dreampt up the idea on a whim after discovering Cowgill dealt drugs and from there things spiral out of control. First Cowgill enlists two of his workers, Lewis Whippey and Tommy Lee Royce. The latter character is played by James Norton and he gives us a performance of true depth and in doing so creates one of the most memorable screen psychos of all time.

It's all gritty stuff - opening with a theme song from the excellent Jake Bugg it soon becomes clear that this is a thriller with teeth, and boy does it bite.

It's an extemely violent show, unusually so for the BBC but the violence is justified and the effects of all this is explored in depth with the complex, well realised characters. I watched all six episodes over a two nights and although episodes five and six seemed like an epilogue that could have been tightened up into one episode the show kept my attention throughout. Still I suppose it is the kidnapping that drives the plot and once that was concluded at the climax of episode four, the pace slowed down considerably; almost feeling that the final two episodes were made to stretch the show out to six episodes to fit better into television scheduales.


That said this is a brilliant series that anyone who likes crime thrillers needs to catch up on. Sarah Lancashire's performance is absolutely extraordinary and the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent.

Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 8 Jun - 14 Jun 2015
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	92	70	50	71	101	83	41	508	73
Unique Visits	78	57	46	66	78	79	41	445	64
First Time Visits	74	54	44	63	69	76	39	419	60
Returning Visits	4	3	2	3	9	3	2	26	4

Christopher Lee Has Risen From the Grave

At 93 years of age it could be said that he had a good innings, but nevertheless the loss of legendary actor, Christopher Lee is a shock. He seemed immortal, had been around forever and was one of those who would always be around. His work spans the decades, crossing genres, taking in everything from schlock horror to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and beyond. He's resided both in Baker Street and Baskerville Hall and even recorded both opera and heavy metal music. The actor celebrated his 93rd birthday only a few weeks ago, and the as soon as I heard the news of his passing all I could think was, 'Wow, he's going to look freaky in his coffin!'



'I've seen many men die right in front of me. I've seen the worst that human beings can do to one another. the results of torture, mutilation and seeing someone blown to pieces by a bomb.' Christopher Lee talking about his experiences during the second world war.

Lee appeared in over 200 movies, many of then genuine classics - The Man with the Golden Gun, The Whicker Man, Lord of the Rings, but it is perhaps for his work with the Hammer studios where he became something of a double act with another much missed British horror icon, Peter Cushing that he will be best remembered.

'I was attached to the SAS from time to time but we are forbidden – former, present, or future – to discuss any specific operations. Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that.' Christopher Lee


Following a highly colorful and distinguished war record, Lee's entry into film started in 1946, . He

was initially turned down by several studios, being told he was too tall to be an actor but he was signed as a contract player to The Rank Organization and made his screen debut in future James Bond director, Terence Young's Corridor of Mirrors (1947). Lee had only one line in the movie - a satirical shaft meant to qualify the lead's bravura." - nevertheless he made an impact on the director who would later recommend him to friend, Terence Fisher for Hammer's 1957, The Curse of Frankenstein. The film was a huge success and then a year later Lee portrayed Count Dracula in Hammer's Dracula (AKA, The Horror of Dracula) and was arguably the screen's greatest ever Dracula, in the minds of many, including my own,  Lee eclipsed Bela Lugosi's portrayal of the character and remains the definitive screen vampire. During his time with Hammer Lee played many iconic roles, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, The Mummy, Rasputin and even Henry Baskerville alongside Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes. Lee himself would play Sherlock Holmes in 1962's,  Sherlock Holmes and The Deadly Necklace. But Lee's association with Holmes doesn't end there and he also played, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

Lee's work with Hammer is enough to guarantee him screen immortality but there was so much more to the actor - 1973's The Whicker Man is an all time classic and the actor also worked in Spainish films but left after discovering he had unknowingly narrated a soft porn movie. That film was Jess Franco's Eugenie (1970)

' I had no idea that was what it was when I agreed to the role. I was told it was about the Marquis de Sade. I flew out to Spain for one day's work playing the part of a narrator. I had to wear a crimson dinner jacket. There were lots of people behind me. They all had their clothes on. There didn't seem to be anything peculiar or strange. A friend said: 'Do you know you are in a film in Old Compton Street?' In those days that was where the mackintosh brigade watched their films. 'Very funny,' I said. So I crept along there heavily disguised in dark glasses and scarf, and found the cinema and there was my name. I was furious! There was a huge row. When I had left Spain that day everyone behind me had taken their clothes off!' Christopher Lee



In 1973 Lee played alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun and perhaps provided his best screen villain since Dracula, The movie may not be one of the best in the Bond franchise but Lee is mesmerizing on screen.

" In Fleming's novel he's just a West Indian thug, but in the film he's charming, elegant, amusing, lethal.^'   Christopher Lee

That same year Lee appeared on the cover of Paul McCartney's Band on the Run album cover and then in 1977, tired of only being offered roles in horror movies Lee relocated to America. His first role was in Airport 77 and later Steven Spielberg would cast him in 1941. In more recent years Lee turned up in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as well as The Hobbit. He also put his stamp on another classic movie franchise when he appeared in the Star War prequels. In 2010 Lee took the unlikely move of recording an heavy metal album but nevertheless, Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross, was both a critical and commercial success.

Lee's last role was in the video game,  Deus Ex Machina 2  in which Lee narrated the piece in the role of the programmer.


Christopher Lee died in hospital after a short illness but people like Christopher Lee are never truly gone, because they will live on forever through their work. He will continue to thrill movie fans for as long as there are movie fans and as I look at my considerable DVD collection of his work I am reminded that, Christopher Lee has truly risen from the grave.

Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 1 Jun - 7 Jun 2015
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	102	113	70	63	69	96	47	560	80
Unique Visits	100	92	68	55	56	83	46	500	71
First Time Visits	99	88	67	50	53	79	45	481	69
Returning Visits	1	4	1	5	3	4	1	19	3