Matchstalk Men

Listening to the Chris Evans Show on Radio 2, a news article cropped up about a milkman who was tipped in sketches by LS Lowry back in the 1950s when the artist was making a name for himself.

I've tracked the story down to the Sun (and also the Mail, so it must be true). Lowry apparently gave him ten sketches, which he subsequently threw away because he thought he could do better. Experts reckon the pictures could have been worth a seven figure sum if they were available today.



Horrified Ben (Timperley), 72, said yesterday: "How could I have been such an idiot?"

Frankly, I do understand. I quite like Lowry, but fully understand why people might think it all a bit rubbish. The best part of the story, though, is the comment left by a reader: "I dont think anybody who dresses as stylishly as mr Timperley could ever be described as an idiot!"

Matchstalk Men

Listening to the Chris Evans Show on Radio 2, a news article cropped up about a milkman who was tipped in sketches by LS Lowry back in the 1950s when the artist was making a name for himself.

I've tracked the story down to the Sun (and also the Mail, so it must be true). Lowry apparently gave him ten sketches, which he subsequently threw away because he thought he could do better. Experts reckon the pictures could have been worth a seven figure sum if they were available today.



Horrified Ben (Timperley), 72, said yesterday: "How could I have been such an idiot?"

Frankly, I do understand. I quite like Lowry, but fully understand why people might think it all a bit rubbish. The best part of the story, though, is the comment left by a reader: "I dont think anybody who dresses as stylishly as mr Timperley could ever be described as an idiot!"

Kick Ass

The other night I read through my copy of the collected Hardback version of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr’s Kick Ass, which has finally seen the light of day. It was good to sit and read the story from start to finish without worrying about the ludicrous lag between editions occasioned by the fact that a couple of comics in the story was sold off for a movie adaptation, which sucked on the creators’ time and resources at the expense of completing the source material.

It’s a good comic; a very good comic. I was looking forward to the movie knowing that the Millar and Romita were closely involved and that Jane Goldman had co-written the screenplay. The first few stills that leaked out onto the web looked promising, too.

So, after re-reading the story, I looked up the official movie website and proceeded to watch a few trailers, including the R rated ones not on general view on YouTube and other places. As I expected, with some revisions, the picture looks as though it will be reasonably faithful to the comic and that is good. Well, it is good to a point.

The problem is that the comic is very violent. Incredibly violent. Post-Modern Hyper-Violent. There are decapitations, impalings, head cleavings and other naughtiness. Some of it is realistic, some of it is very stylised comic book stuff, but all of it is graphic. There is more claret than you can shake a shitty stick at. Now, I don’t mind that too much. I have eaten Cronenburger with extra ketchup and fries over the years and am pretty well inoculated to this sort of thing, though I am vaguely surprised to see that BBFC have passed it uncut with a 15 certificate in the UK.

What pulled me up short and brought out my inner puritan, that I had thought long since buried, was the language. Not the swearing per se, but the origin of it. I mean, if bad language was a barrier to good viewing these days, it would be hard to find anything gritty worth watching, particularly in the movie world. No, the transition from comic to screen is perhaps a little too close. I didn’t think about it too much when I was reading the cartoons’ speech bubbles on the page, but it feels a little different when there is an actor saying the exact same dialogue. Particularly when we are talking about a kid playing a murderous ‘superhero’ aged 11 (I believe the actress was actually 12, as if that makes much of a difference) - Hit Girl.

To have this character pretty much dripping in gore and using dialogue including c*nt and f*ck brought me up short.

I’m not sure which is the more remarkable and thought provoking: that I am surprised at my reaction to it, that I had a reaction to it at all, or that I worry that a child should deliver such lines in a movie in the name of entertainment.

I’m still not sure what I really think about it, or what it says that I am so unsure.

Kick Ass

The other night I read through my copy of the collected Hardback version of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr’s Kick Ass, which has finally seen the light of day. It was good to sit and read the story from start to finish without worrying about the ludicrous lag between editions occasioned by the fact that a couple of comics in the story was sold off for a movie adaptation, which sucked on the creators’ time and resources at the expense of completing the source material.

It’s a good comic; a very good comic. I was looking forward to the movie knowing that the Millar and Romita were closely involved and that Jane Goldman had co-written the screenplay. The first few stills that leaked out onto the web looked promising, too.

So, after re-reading the story, I looked up the official movie website and proceeded to watch a few trailers, including the R rated ones not on general view on YouTube and other places. As I expected, with some revisions, the picture looks as though it will be reasonably faithful to the comic and that is good. Well, it is good to a point.

The problem is that the comic is very violent. Incredibly violent. Post-Modern Hyper-Violent. There are decapitations, impalings, head cleavings and other naughtiness. Some of it is realistic, some of it is very stylised comic book stuff, but all of it is graphic. There is more claret than you can shake a shitty stick at. Now, I don’t mind that too much. I have eaten Cronenburger with extra ketchup and fries over the years and am pretty well inoculated to this sort of thing, though I am vaguely surprised to see that BBFC have passed it uncut with a 15 certificate in the UK.

What pulled me up short and brought out my inner puritan, that I had thought long since buried, was the language. Not the swearing per se, but the origin of it. I mean, if bad language was a barrier to good viewing these days, it would be hard to find anything gritty worth watching, particularly in the movie world. No, the transition from comic to screen is perhaps a little too close. I didn’t think about it too much when I was reading the cartoons’ speech bubbles on the page, but it feels a little different when there is an actor saying the exact same dialogue. Particularly when we are talking about a kid playing a murderous ‘superhero’ aged 11 (I believe the actress was actually 12, as if that makes much of a difference) - Hit Girl.

To have this character pretty much dripping in gore and using dialogue including c*nt and f*ck brought me up short.

I’m not sure which is the more remarkable and thought provoking: that I am surprised at my reaction to it, that I had a reaction to it at all, or that I worry that a child should deliver such lines in a movie in the name of entertainment.

I’m still not sure what I really think about it, or what it says that I am so unsure.