30/11/2012 The Review Show


30/11/2012

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Tonight on Review, Clint Eastwood steps back from directing to play a

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growly, grizzly, even doddery old talent scout, in the latest film in

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the baseball genre. Have you thought about what you might do

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when your contract is up. Sure, sign another one for more money.

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The art of couture, fabulous frocks by the man loved by everyone from

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Jackie O to Julia Roberts. Bomb shelters and tedious beaus, the war

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time diaries of a school teacher. Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese and

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Sheryl Crow, and a huge cast of characters give it up for Michael

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Jackson's musical genius. And, you have got the look, the

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grandfather that is an internet sensation.

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Joining me tonight are the journalist and fags writer, Hadley

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Freeman, the journalist Mark Mailar, and Christina Patterson, columnist

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for the Independent. Trouble With The Curve swings into cinemas this

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week, and it is Clint Eastwood's first outing since his unexpected

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appearance at one of Mitt Romney's conventions. Eastwood has vacated

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the director's chair, to make way for his long time assistant, Robert

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Lorenz. Are you home? No. I guess I can

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come in. Son of a bitch. Time I'm not up on? Fengsmei don't you know

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anything. At the heart of Trouble With The Curve, is the relationship

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between Gus Lobel, the legendary scout for the Atlanta Brave's

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baseball team, played by Eastwood, and his daughter, Nicky, a high-

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flying lawyer, played by Amy Adams. Gus is hiding his health problems

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from his daughter and colleagues who have begun to question his

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abilities. Gus, have you thought about what you might do when your

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contract is up? Sure, sign another one for more money! Ever think

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about retirement? What's this all about? There is just a lot of

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pressure might now. Mickey joins her father on a scouting trip to

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North Carolina that to keep an eye on him. At first it seems too late

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to repair their dysfuntional relationship. You should be back

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home doing your job, same as I'm doing my job here. If it make as

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difference I'm doing it for Pete, he thought you could use some

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company. He's wrong, wait until I see that horse's ass. Inevitably,

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father and daughter find they have more in common than they think.

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don't like baseball. I love baseball, I didn't want to be

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lawyer, I did it so you would be happy with me and approve of him

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and maybe keep me around. I did what I felt was right. I didn't

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want you to have life in the cheap seats that is all. They weren't the

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cheap seats. On paper, Clint Eastwood playing a

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grouchy old man doesn't seem like much of a stretch, but can the

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screen legend breathe life into this tale of infirmity and almost

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oblessance. We are now used to knowing that

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Clint Eastwood is a damn fine director, was it reassuring to have

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him back on screen? Well, in lots of ways it was. I mean, his

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performance is fine, I wouldn't say it is a great performance. It is

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nice to see an old person on a cinema screen, frankly, it is a bit

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unprecedented, perhaps you have to be Clint Eastwood. Or Henry Fonda

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in On Golden Pond? Yes, that is two out of all the films out every year.

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"nice" seems the word to use about the whole thing. Cliche-ridden,

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stock-characters, fomulaic, a bit tired, clunking dialogue. But, on

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positive side, there came for me, I'm a sucker for a romcom, I

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thought they were laying it on with a trowel in the beginning,

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establishing the idea that he was grappling with old age, and so many

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in different ways. One scene would have done it, they had about four.

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To have both the not being able to pee scene and falling over the

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furniture? Before I say anything horrible, I have to say I love

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Clint Eastwood, he's the most important figure in cinema history,

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an icon twice over, for 30 years running in the top ten directors,

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more consistent in the last three decades than Spielberg, it was a

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howler, I didn't enjoy it. Every cliche in the book. You didn't

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think there was some, the idea of the father-daughter, it is not new,

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but Amy Adams is such a brilliant actress as well? There was so many

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great people. Justin Timberlake, people may laugh, is a great actor.

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He's really good f you put him in the right thing, he was a bit of a

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dick. Don't make him the likeable lead or romantic interest, nobody's

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buying him chasing a girl. How many baseball films have we had,

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Moneyball, A League of their Own, Field of Dreams, we are back at

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baseball. What is the desire to go back to baseball? It is a cinematic

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sport, because it is so beautiful and emblematic of the American

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dream, and the golden era of America. One of the problems with

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the film, with cliches and stock character, it comes out a month

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after the election. And just to let you know, the last time we saw

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Clint Eastwood was him yelling at a chair at the Republican election,

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and here we have the opening scene with him yelling at a hair and

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dining room table. Without dwifg it away, people who rely on data are

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stupid, and people who trust in numbers are idiots, where as people

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who trust their gut, the old men, they are the ones to count. That is

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the opposite of what happened in the election, people like Nate Sill

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version they were right, and those on Fox News, saying I feel it my

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gut that Romney is going to win. has better reviews than I would

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imagine in the states. Is that because of the wonderful affection

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for Clint Eastwood, and he's an icon. Or it is because they like

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the films where the little guys always are the, or the old guys,

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are the ones that always actually triumph over the smart ass

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youngsters? There is a whole new trend in movies, with older people

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being the stars. This is older than most. But I think also there is the

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comfort it in the familiarity, the stories of the father and daughter

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reunited, life as a metaphor for strike, the 30-year-old woman,

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working a disaster in sport. These guys that play golf in the off.

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This is the clip where Amy Adams seems to, for the first time in her

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life, realise her father has been talking about her when she wasn't

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there! Actually, I remember him saying he

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had a daughter in college. Yep, he would say that she was smarter than

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me and him put together. That's why when I met you, I obviously thought

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that Gus had another daughter. Doesn't sound like my father, it

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sounds like a compliment. He said it. Well, he never tells me

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anything. Maybe he wants to. You know. Doesn't know how.

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You might have to take the lead. Trust me, I have tried, I'm done.

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That kind of sets up their relationship. You know, that aside,

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and that was one of the few scenes that Clint Eastwood was not in. The

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power of Clint Eastwood is, that this was his first AD he had been

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working with for years, it was his first directing, he made a good

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first of it, it was not great script. Did this film have to be

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made. He wanted to do it for his guy? It felt a bit of a favour, I

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hate saying that. You have produced my films and my first AD for years,

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I will give you one. How often do you want to see clint as a grouchy

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old guy, I liked him in Unforgiven, he was an old guy 20 years ago,

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that was 20 years ago. I love him, after 40, 550 years of great movies,

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he's allowed this one. This one, it is an interesting idea. We have

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grown up with all sorts of people brilliant actors who are older and

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get parts. Jack Nicholson is one of them. The idea that Kathleen, I was

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going to say Kathleen Turner is another one. There should be parts

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for these people, shouldn't there, in movies. People are living longer,

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they want to see some of the people they have grown up continue to have

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a career? Absolutely. When we get the female equivalents of Clint

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Eastwood, that will be great. I would like to put a tiny word in

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for this film. It absolutely is fomulaic and clunky and cliched,

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but my heart was some what melted. It is a very heart-warming film, it

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is touching, it is ultra conservative, as you say. It is

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pretty much, you could call it No Country For Old Men, it is

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essentially saying, bring the old guys back, and chuck the computers

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out of the window. I think some of the romantic stuff between Justin

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Timberlake and Amy Adams is rather nicely done. And there were nice

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scenes when they are knocking back tequila and testing each other on

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their baseball knowledge, all of which was entirely news to me, I

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know absolutely nothing about baseball. But it is not a complete

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disaster. You are right the film didn't need to be made, but you

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won't have an awful time if you go to see it. I was baffled, I don't

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know anything about American sport, Any Given Sunday, it is like a film

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in Chinese with subtitles, I have no idea, what they are talking

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about! Trouble With The Curve is in cinemas now. A celebration of one

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of the last great couturiers opened at Somerset House in London

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yesterday, Valentino: Master of Couture is a major retrospective of

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his career in the fashion industry. Celebrating couture garments from

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his archive. Valentino's creations have caressed the curves of some of

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the most powerful and influential women in the world. Amongst them

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whose wedding dress in 1968 features in

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the exhibition. Jackie, she was somebody that she loves to see the

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collection. Maybe I did three or four times some special things for

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her. I remember going twice, or three times here in the United

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States, with parts of the collection. She loved to choose

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from the collection. Automatically if she choose something important

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as a garment, I was very careful not to give it to anybody else.

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Valentino claims never to compromise his vision, regardless

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of his client's profile or notoriety. I have always been

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extremely, extremely normal with my customers. To try to explain what

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they like, what they saw in the collection. I did accept somebody

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then saying I want this and that, I don't like that. No, I said, if you

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don't like, forget. But you have to listen to me.

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The wedding dress of New York socialite Marie Chantelle-Clare is

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the centre of the exhibition. It is lavished with lace and pearls. She

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married the Crown Prince of Greece in 1995. If you do couture and high

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-- Haute Couture and high fashion, they sculpture your body. The

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client expects this. When I'm creating a collection,

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automatically on top of my girl, or model, I try to figure out in my

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mind the translation to a normal lady, what we have to do to make

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the body like the girl that I have in front of me.

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Judging from his prolific output over 50 years, Valentino seems

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never to have suffered from the designer's equivalent of writers

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block. Ideas come, you know, you sit down at the table in front of

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you, with a pencil and piece of paper, and you start to draw.

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Making, very easily, 60, 70, maybe 100 drawings in one day. I did so

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many drawings in my life that I, I can make the saloon of Versailles,

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or with the tapestry with my drawings! Did you feel transported

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into a make-believe rich world of Valentino? I have to be honest,

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when I used to cover the shows for the Guardian, I never envoid the

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Valentino shows. It is like being force fed sponge sugar, it is so

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sweet and beautiful. He's a good designer to have an exhibition, you

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don't need fashion goggle, it is about prettyness and beauty.

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Fashion exhibitions can feel like walking into Harvey Nichols with

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dressed mannequins, Somerset House have tried to do a clever thing,

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setting it up like a fashion show. People walk in between the dresses,

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like they are the models. That set- up was problematic. They have some

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of the mannequins, and next to them are empty seats, with names on them,

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as you are going on to a fashion show. The first names are Jennifer

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Lopez and Lady Gaga, that felt incredibly tacky. The traims on the

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seats have nothing to do -- the names on the seats have nothing to

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do with the mannequins, you have no idea why they are there. I thought

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the setting was wonderful, I loved the idea that you were on the

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catwalk, you could reach out and see the dress. Some were beyond the

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prety, because of the craftswomanship, he has been

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working with the same women for years, you can appreciate the

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artistry of the dresses. The one called Budellini, the wool with the

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silk around it, it is extraordinary stuff. The best bit was the end,

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where they showed how each bit of the lace was made. I wanted that

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before so you know what you are looking at. It was for people in

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the know, almost, the exhibition, I thought some of the dresses were

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absolutely beautiful, I thought the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wedding

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dress was wonderful. We managed to get some footage, I wanted

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photographs of people, the people that the dressing were made for

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wearing them. It would have given me context and era? What you had

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instead, when you walked in, was this is my world from Valentino. So

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signed photos from Princess Diana, and Diana Freeland, and letters

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from Anna Wintour, saying "thank you for a magical weekend". It was

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a huge name-drop. What has this to do with the art. I'm not a fashion

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fan, I have never been to a fashion show or fashion event. I'm not

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interested, it might be shocking, I'm not. I thought the dresses,

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some of them, were equisitely beautiful. I could see that this

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was the work of an artist, actually, and a master craftsman. When you

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saw the incredible intricate, fiddley techniques they did,

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amazing. But for me it was like a glimpse of a court, a court I found

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repellent, it was all about celebrity and money. It didn't have

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to be about celebrity. That was the interesting, the way it was Made In

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Chelsea it like celebrity? That's true. But it is clearly all about

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celebty. The people he designs for are unbelievably rich, he wants

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people to know, clearly about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It is

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all about celebrity and an incredibly rarified world. Can you

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say you can appreciate it without being able to afford it. You can

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appreciate a Picasso but you can't afford it? You can. But obviously

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the Picasso is in a private house, people won't see it. If you are

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talking Michael Jackson, as we will later, or much art is on public

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display. This stuff is in people's wardrobes. It is for very, very,

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very rich people. The way it was set out, and you had the red

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collection, the bading and the lace. What they had done, rather than

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doing it chronologically, they did the It Take Two people working with

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Valentino, and some of their pieces, you sat the thread of the Italian

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couture house. There were elements of Valentino still there. They were

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an artistic era, particularly the 1960s? What was odd was how they

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arranged it by colour, so Valentino, with the emphasis on aesthetics,

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rather than useful to people. know your design aesthetic is

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different, but as a film producer and somebody who is actually

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putting a look and style, as well as a content on film, it is

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important, isn't it, to get that right? It is everything, what

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people are wearing on screen, very rarely is anybody nude on the film,

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the clothes have to look good. Especially costumes, superhero

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costumes. I'm sure he will make you a cape if you wanted it? I felt out

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of my depth, remember than taxi driver who ended up on Newsnight,

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that is what I felt like. If you have a fabulous wedding you dress

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in a fabulous outfit? It is a very superficial world. But it is find

:18:39.:18:44.

of fun, it is just dressing-up. Even the people wearing the red

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carpet are not owning them, they are borrowing, it is part of the

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game. I'm not interested in it, I'm more George at Asda rather than

:18:57.:19:02.

Gerogio Armani. Does it belong in a museum? I do think so, the tech

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kneeings are amazing, that should have been more than the celebrities.

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Part of this rare filed world, what you were saying, they could have

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manufacture -- rarified world, what you were saying, they could have

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brought more of that. He's part of the dolce vita world, he's part of

:19:23.:19:26.

that, that world is gone, there won't be the couture world again.

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That is why he's so famous, Carl Largerfeld is another designer like

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that, he's been good at making himself a cartoon and keeping up

:19:39.:19:44.

with the times. But Valentino isn't into that. Valentino: Master of

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Couture continues at Somerset House until March 3rd. It is 25 years

:19:49.:19:53.

since Michael Jackson released Bad, the last of three pop albums, that

:19:53.:19:58.

represent the pinnacle of Michael Jackson's music career. Friend and

:19:58.:20:04.

superfan, Spike Lee, has a feature- length documentary he has produced,

:20:04.:20:12.

which aims to reinstate Jackson's reputation as the king of pop.

:20:12.:20:18.

Spike Lee is best known for his brand of bold polemic films, often

:20:18.:20:23.

exploring racial tension. In this two-hour deepltry, Lee has opted

:20:23.:20:32.

for an out-and-out celebration of his childhood hero.

:20:32.:20:36.

Lee was determined to focus on the music. He goes through the album

:20:36.:20:43.

song by song, with testimony from a comprehensive line-up of Jackson's

:20:43.:20:48.

collaborators. # You knock me off my feet now baby

:20:48.:20:53.

Everything stopped, we had to stop shooting, because people just froze.

:20:53.:21:03.
:21:03.:21:03.

They actually froze. The film provides ample evidence of

:21:03.:21:09.

Jackson's vocal talents, but also through extensive rehearsal footage,

:21:09.:21:13.

his unique skills as a dancer and choreographer. He took what was

:21:13.:21:16.

formated as a choreographer, and he learned it to the point where he

:21:16.:21:20.

could break out of it when he wanted to and get right back into

:21:20.:21:27.

it. Without skipping a beat. Michael would spin and snap out of

:21:27.:21:32.

it, grab himself, Hoooo. Made in collaboration with the

:21:32.:21:37.

Jackson estate, the film is packed with enough detail and previously

:21:37.:21:44.

unseen footage to satisfy devoted fans. Although Bad 25 revitalises

:21:44.:21:48.

his musical legacy. Does it tell us anything about the inner thoughts

:21:48.:21:57.

of the artist himself. So, a celebration, but did it

:21:57.:22:02.

actually, in some way help you learn more about him, his

:22:02.:22:06.

choreography, and the way he worked with other artists? You absolutely

:22:06.:22:10.

do, I thought it was a wonderful film. Two hours ten minutes is a

:22:10.:22:17.

real luxury, but it makes you realise how rare you have this

:22:17.:22:25.

leisurely space to build up layers and a picture of him.Ly lowly has

:22:25.:22:30.

assembled a vast cast of witnesses, people in the music industry who

:22:30.:22:34.

have worked with him. What he has done, it is not about the inner man,

:22:34.:22:39.

it doesn't reveal a huge amount, it is a portrait of the artist, it is

:22:39.:22:43.

a portrait of an artist in a much more general sense. It is about the

:22:43.:22:49.

whole process of what goes into making art. This is about the

:22:49.:22:52.

extraordinary perfectionism, drive, attention to detail, obsessive work

:22:52.:22:58.

that made up an amazing performer, dancer, musician, et cetera. At the

:22:58.:23:02.

earlier and pinnacle of his career. It was extraordinary, watching, now

:23:02.:23:06.

even watching back at those music videos you realise nobody can dance

:23:06.:23:10.

like him, even now? I was outraged watching it. I started off kind of

:23:10.:23:15.

thinking get to the meat. Because Spike Lee, we all love him, he's a

:23:15.:23:24.

director I really respect. It was like someone doing one about Hitler,

:23:24.:23:30.

and glossing over what we all want to see. It is not glossing over it,

:23:30.:23:35.

he starts off with the bit with James Baldwin quoting what he says

:23:35.:23:39.

about freaks, saying they are the people who echo our deep Estherors,

:23:39.:23:49.

we know that about Michael Jackson. We -- deepest fears. We know that

:23:49.:23:54.

about Michael Jackson, he's showing the other side of it. The one

:23:54.:23:58.

problem is there is a gaping hole that he didn't get an interview

:23:58.:24:02.

with Quincy Jones, that is strange. Quincy Jones is the man to talk

:24:02.:24:06.

best about Jackson's development as a solo artist. Produced the first

:24:06.:24:11.

two albums and then this. It is odd that's not there. He fills it up

:24:11.:24:15.

with, some things are great, the stuff from the or could go fares

:24:15.:24:20.

are fantastic, how -- choreographers are fantastic, the

:24:20.:24:29.

third man in bandwagon taking inspiration from that, and it shows

:24:29.:24:33.

how inspired he was with music before he disappeared into

:24:33.:24:39.

Neverland. It is such a hagiography. Nobody refuses Spike Lee an

:24:39.:24:43.

interview, if he wants to talk to you and do a film you go, that's

:24:43.:24:50.

fine? There was no context. This album sold half as much as Thriller,

:24:50.:24:55.

how did Michael Jackson feel about it. To pad it out with celebrities

:24:55.:25:01.

like Chris Brown. Justin Bieber, I'm sorry? Chris Brown, I have no

:25:01.:25:04.

interest in his opinion, he's best known for beating up his popstar

:25:04.:25:08.

girlfriend, I don't care what he says about Jackson. One of the best

:25:08.:25:14.

stories, and if you are going to put Michael Jackson And Prince

:25:14.:25:19.

together, I'm a great fan. The interview where they allowed him to

:25:19.:25:22.

be weird, somebody arranged a meeting. He comes in and thinks

:25:22.:25:27.

Prince has put a hex on him. Even early on he had a bit of a problem.

:25:27.:25:33.

You can't say the weirdness didn't come through. The very making of

:25:33.:25:37.

the he insists on calling them short films rather than videos, but

:25:37.:25:42.

the Bad one, and I mean, the waerdness of it. He's in a dirt --

:25:42.:25:49.

weirdness of it, he's in a dirty car park, he hasn't seen one before.

:25:49.:25:55.

Here is this incredibly effeminate, too shy to kiss a girl, and

:25:55.:25:59.

desspraitly trying to sell himself to the African -- desperately

:25:59.:26:05.

trying to sell himself to the African-American community as bad.

:26:05.:26:09.

I think the entertainment industry has this thing of forgiving the

:26:09.:26:13.

worst of crimes, we have seen it with Saville, and in the states.

:26:13.:26:18.

All the celebrities sit round and say it isn't true and support each

:26:18.:26:21.

other. Spike Lee has done a bit of revision here. The worst bit was

:26:21.:26:25.

the end, when you have all the talking head, to say where they

:26:25.:26:29.

were when they heard he died. Who cares. More interesting would be

:26:29.:26:32.

when was the last time they spoke to him, and what was he look. You

:26:32.:26:37.

don't need to talk about that. Maybe because he did shut himself

:26:37.:26:42.

away in Neverland, and there were all the lawsuits, it is true we

:26:42.:26:49.

won't know? What we will know about him, we will never know what he

:26:49.:26:53.

thought himself about anything? get tiny glimpses, like someone

:26:53.:26:57.

quoting him saying "I would give anything to be able to stand in a

:26:57.:27:02.

corner of the room and see the world from the point of view of

:27:02.:27:06.

real people". You get poignant glimpses, there is a political

:27:06.:27:09.

agenda. This was Lee low as a very significant African-American,

:27:09.:27:13.

making a film about the most significant African-American

:27:13.:27:17.

popstar, ever. What for me was very touching, we all know the bad stuff.

:27:17.:27:23.

I do agree you could argue that it looks as if it is hagiography and

:27:23.:27:26.

it is pushing the rest of the picture out. I feel we all know it,

:27:26.:27:30.

and it is a redressing of the balance. What this is also about,

:27:30.:27:33.

is what this man meant to black people throughout the world. To

:27:33.:27:38.

millions and millions of black people. Are they reclaiming that

:27:38.:27:42.

for them. The whole idea, pushing and telling us about those gospel

:27:42.:27:47.

roots, deconstructing some of those songs, and taking it back to the

:27:47.:27:52.

basics, that, for me, was the most interesting part? I felt this album

:27:52.:27:55.

is strong enough to withstand straight talking. That doesn't mean

:27:55.:27:59.

the bad rumours. Saying how it wasn't as big as Thriller, there

:27:59.:28:03.

are some things really weird, the thing about being scared of the

:28:03.:28:09.

outside world because he was so sheltered. The Garrett stuff was

:28:09.:28:15.

great, she decided to go to do an album and Sheryl Crow comes on?

:28:15.:28:20.

brings platitudes in, we have plenty of that. All about nobody

:28:20.:28:24.

danced like him. She said he changed the molecules in the room.

:28:24.:28:30.

That is the nice way of putting the alchemy when there is really good

:28:30.:28:33.

work. And Jackson talked about the mystery of the creative process, I

:28:33.:28:36.

felt I learned more about the mystery of the creative process

:28:36.:28:41.

through this. There was one point when his voice coach said he had a

:28:41.:28:50.

deep voice, and it was con tra-alto and then you heard the prakti.

:28:50.:28:57.

is definitive documentary because it isly lowly, it is like the Bob

:28:57.:29:01.

Lee documentary that went for the close-up. He couldn't because it

:29:01.:29:07.

was commissioned by Sony. I see it as an advert. Advert or not, Bad 25

:29:07.:29:12.

is on BBC Two at 9.45 tomorrow night. We all like to pick up and

:29:12.:29:15.

thumb through a diary, especially the inner thoughts of someone else,

:29:15.:29:22.

even Michael Jackson. The TV drama Housewife 49, and Call The Midwife,

:29:23.:29:26.

started out as the personal journals of ordinary women during

:29:26.:29:30.

and after the Second World War. There is a new addition to the

:29:30.:29:33.

genre. These Wonderful Rumours is the war

:29:33.:29:37.

time diary of May Smith, a young school teacher in Swadlincote in

:29:37.:29:42.

Derbyshire. Her journals give a snapshot of life on the home front

:29:42.:29:49.

over seven years. "Thursday, November 28th, 1949, war time, yet

:29:49.:29:55.

so far not so very different from peacetime, except for the backout,

:29:55.:29:59.

early closing of school, and the appearance of uniform in nearly

:29:59.:30:05.

every public place. We will feel the pinch more on January 8th,

:30:05.:30:12.

thank goodness the Christmas dinner won't be stinted." May recalls war

:30:12.:30:16.

alongside personal struggles, trials in the classroom, disastrous

:30:16.:30:20.

perms, and preserving silk stockings from laddering. All

:30:20.:30:25.

aspects of every day life are affected. Travelling in this here

:30:25.:30:29.

war is the last bit of refined torture. To get to Burton, once

:30:29.:30:36.

simple, is a herculean task, which combines the patience of Job and

:30:36.:30:42.

the tenacity of a bulldog. To be timid, polite and unselfish, is

:30:42.:30:47.

fatal. May's biggest problem is juggling rival suitors, old friend

:30:47.:30:53.

Freddie, and the steadfast Dougie. "Dear Freddie's birthday, ring him

:30:53.:30:58.

up as a great concession. Get my old hat remodelled, and greeted

:30:58.:31:02.

with hoots of derision, I will never wear it. Unexpected phone

:31:02.:31:06.

call from Dougie, he rings up to say he won't be able to come next

:31:06.:31:11.

weekend, as he has had his papers and going into the army. Feel very

:31:11.:31:19.

sorry, I'm not sorry he isn't coming, I think it is as well he

:31:19.:31:22.

shouldn't". These Wonderful Rumours offers a funny look into war time.

:31:22.:31:26.

Does it reveal anything new about a period so well studied in books and

:31:26.:31:29.

on film. Was there anything unexpected?

:31:29.:31:34.

really. But I think the whole point of it was just a Downton Abbey

:31:34.:31:40.

experience, it was something charm, or Call The Midwife, when things

:31:40.:31:44.

are scary outside and the economy is a mess, retreat back to 1948, it

:31:45.:31:49.

is cosy. When I read it, I thought she had written it to be read, or

:31:49.:31:53.

turned into what was to become television, or radio? It is crazily

:31:53.:31:58.

good, so much so, I'm suspicious that it might be a fake. It is so

:31:58.:32:01.

well written. Alan Clarke's direry, there is nothing worse than boring

:32:01.:32:07.

diaries, this woman can write. It was interesting that this man

:32:07.:32:13.

tackled his mum's diaries, I wouldn't like to see into my mum's

:32:13.:32:17.

head. Especially when talking about her future husband? I was like

:32:17.:32:21.

going, did she write that? She does write beautifully. I absolutely

:32:21.:32:25.

think she was writing for publication. Then she's a big fan

:32:25.:32:30.

of the Provincial Lady, she had that in her head. At one point

:32:30.:32:34.

somebody asks her is this going to be published, she said it will be

:32:34.:32:37.

bequeathed to the nation! It is in her head all the time. That

:32:37.:32:41.

explains a lot of the archness of it. It is fatastically arch.

:32:42.:32:46.

Although it is witty and as certificatic about, and at times,

:32:46.:32:52.

very funny, -- acerbic and at times, very funny, it was too much irony.

:32:52.:32:57.

I was longing for real feeling. She's not very sympathetic? The way

:32:57.:33:01.

she talked, it is fine at first, but she talks about Dougie dear,

:33:01.:33:07.

she's stringing along to get the vegtables and the odd cockerel at

:33:07.:33:14.

Christmas. Dear predy and faithless Freddie, it takes five years before

:33:14.:33:21.

she says lovely days. Before that it is endless outings to cinema,

:33:21.:33:26.

moaning about bad perms, weight gain. In the end I thought I'm only

:33:26.:33:29.

ploughing on to find out which of the poor saps will be landed with

:33:29.:33:33.

you. I wanted more genuine stuff about the war. Maybe it reminded me

:33:33.:33:36.

that for a lot of people what they knew about the war was scant, it

:33:36.:33:41.

was the wireless, the odd bulletin going into the cinema. But it was a

:33:41.:33:44.

far off thing of which she knew little? For me, as an American,

:33:44.:33:54.

reading how English she started, "Herr Hitler has invaded Poland,

:33:54.:33:58.

ghastly!" that was sweet, I would have liked more from her son at the

:33:58.:34:02.

end. You get the one page about she and this man, had a very happy and

:34:02.:34:06.

long matter aing. You don't hear what she was like as a -- marriage.

:34:06.:34:13.

You don't hear what she was like as a mother or you don't get which men

:34:13.:34:18.

she liked. I strongly disliked her in the end. I thought she was a war

:34:18.:34:22.

time Bridget Jones, self-obsessed as all young people are. Going on,

:34:22.:34:28.

and the whole world is shattered, when the rations come in, she says

:34:28.:34:34.

shattering news, you think she hasn't mentioned the invasion of

:34:34.:34:38.

this country. She never, ever talks about any affection, there is the

:34:38.:34:42.

odd occasion talking about kids in the snow, about the kids she's

:34:42.:34:45.

teaching? When her grandfather and grandmother dies she's completely

:34:45.:34:48.

unmoved. I thought she was a heartless bitch. I really did.

:34:48.:34:52.

you think the cast of characters was such it would have helped to

:34:52.:34:55.

have a glossary, to give us an idea of the cast of character, there

:34:55.:34:59.

were people keeping popping up, that is the problem. You want

:34:59.:35:03.

stronger editing, I thought there was a lot of reputation, and as you

:35:03.:35:07.

say, too much of going to the hairdresser, popping along. We

:35:07.:35:12.

could have done with less of that? It was only in the last two years

:35:12.:35:16.

compressed into the short period, she was galloping through. That was

:35:16.:35:21.

the only time I got anything approximating any feeling. For most

:35:21.:35:27.

of the 400-pages, I thought I don't know who you are, I don't have a

:35:27.:35:35.

clue of you except this writing for stuff for a reader. You realise how

:35:36.:35:40.

lovely it would be to keep a diary, you think you do with Twitter. The

:35:41.:35:45.

thing that horrifies me is my kids in the future will dig up my tweets

:35:45.:35:50.

about X Factor and everyone will think I'm an idiot. To burst your

:35:50.:35:53.

bubble, I don't think they will! Earlier this week we heard about a

:35:53.:35:58.

rather unusual new model on the fashion scene. We have already seen

:35:58.:36:05.

young men modelling women's clothes and visa versa. This is the first

:36:06.:36:11.

time we have seen a 72-year-old man modelling clothes intended for

:36:11.:36:15.

teenage girls. Liu Qianpang is the new Chinese fashion internet

:36:15.:36:19.

sensation, and grandfather of 24- year-old Lu Ting, who runs an on-

:36:19.:36:23.

line fashion business. The former farmer was visiting his

:36:23.:36:28.

granddaughter at the work, when the model she booked for her shoot

:36:29.:36:32.

cancelled at the last minute. Intrigued by the clothes being

:36:32.:36:42.
:36:42.:37:08.

packed into boxes, he started to Lu Ting's grandfather didn't just

:37:08.:37:12.

model the clothing for the shoot. He had a hand in putting the

:37:12.:37:22.
:37:22.:37:46.

The pictures are a viral sensation. Liu Qianpang appeared on television

:37:46.:37:49.

in Shanghai, and has been approached by modelling companies,

:37:49.:37:54.

but he has turned them down. His nickname, MaDiGaGa, or "funny

:37:54.:38:00.

elderly", couldn't be more apt. Transcending age barriers, has this

:38:00.:38:04.

new recruit arrived at the perfect time for the fashion industry. And

:38:04.:38:09.

would Valentino ever dress this Grandpa in his finest couture. It

:38:09.:38:14.

makes me think of Bennetton ads. Do you think this is too out there for

:38:14.:38:18.

Valentino? No, the fashion industry loves a new thing. Whether it is

:38:18.:38:22.

butting someone plumper than usual on the runway, or an older woman.

:38:22.:38:27.

They tend to be one-offs, it is brief fascinations the fashion

:38:27.:38:32.

industry gets. There is a new interest in older models. We have

:38:32.:38:37.

seen it with marks and senser. Guardian has blazed a trail with

:38:37.:38:43.

that. With all ages. The Gentlewomen, a fashion magazine has

:38:43.:38:50.

put older women on the covers. You have people like Charlotte Rampling

:38:50.:38:57.

who get on the front of Vogue. I think this is a one off. Is this a

:38:57.:39:02.

fashion story rather than a catwalk story? It has the human interest,

:39:02.:39:05.

unlike Valentino, which you felt had no human feeling in any way at

:39:05.:39:10.

all. In a way, no wonder this guy looks fantastic, he's a very skinny

:39:10.:39:16.

man. And essentially, clothing, Haute Couture is designed for very

:39:16.:39:26.
:39:26.:39:28.

skinny prepubesant boys, no wornd. A Glasgow -- Wonder. A Glasgow

:39:28.:39:32.

granddad wouldn't look like this. You were talking about your kids on

:39:32.:39:35.

Twitter, this is gone viral on the Internet. It will probably turn her

:39:35.:39:39.

business into something quite different? I can't believe I missed

:39:39.:39:48.

this, I was watching rubbish all day and missed that.

:39:48.:39:52.

That's nearly all for this week. My thanks to Hadley Freeman Christina

:39:52.:39:55.

Patterson and Mark Mailar. Next week matter that will be here with

:39:55.:39:59.

a book special, including the 50th anniversary of Clockwork Orange,

:39:59.:40:04.

and Hallucination, the new book from Oliver Sachs. Lana Del Rey is

:40:04.:40:12.

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