On The Road Again

I don’t normally read a novel after I’ve watched the film. The reference points are already established, for starters, so when you’re reading Harry Potter you picture Daniel Radcliffe’s face and Alan Rickman in a wig, and thinking things like “that doesn‘t happen in the film” and other such irrelevances. There’s a reason for this - books are not films, for one, and what works in writing doesn't always work on the screen. Anyone who’s seen the film version of Patrick Süskind’s sensual if sickening Das Parfum can vouch for this - a valid cinematic attempt, but on the whole it stinks.

Having just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, I’m pleased to say that John Hillcoat’s film version is just as unsettling, paranoid and heartbreaking in one of those rare cases where the film version does justice to the book. The story itself is very visual, which helps, but I think Hillcoat has done superbly well in capturing the right tone and mood - of human survival in a post-apocalyptic world and the emotive plight of a father and son. It's a story which resonates and I can't recommend it enough.


The news that footballers have affairs has been met with a baffling amount of gullibility. Have we forgotten the Manchester United Christmas party? It was certainly no game of charades in the boot room, if you recall. In Mark E. Smith’s sublime autobiography Renegade, he recalls meeting George Best for the first time where he had an assortment of dolly birds on each arm.

The married Terry has been rightly dismissed as captain of the national team as the alleged affair was with the ex-girlfriend of a former team mate. Capello has made the right decision because such illicit relations questions not just the player’s integrity but also brings into question his leadership capabilities, especially during a pivitol World Cup year.

Terry has proven to be a bit of an idiot, to say the least, and this instance has made me think of a university colleague of mine (now a sports reporter) who, when following up on the story of two ex-Leeds United footballers involved in a racially motivated off-the-ball incident at a Leeds nightclub, told me that, “football is a simple game that attracts simple people.” The comment has stayed with me, although I should also mention that he is a very keen rugby fan.


In local news, Leeds’ ill-fated Lumiere skyscraper (which was scheduled to be the tallest residential tower in the whole of Europe) might now, alas, not be going ahead after all. The recession-hit building sight is still a gaping eyesore in the centre of town, virtually untouched for two years. I don’t know why the council haven’t agreed to do a similar turnaround like that at the Holbeck Urban Village, where another credit crunched development has been transformed into a landscaped garden, much to the appreciation of those working nearby.

The handling of the Lumiere development is clearly a farce, and given its location right next to the station, in full view of any potential passing trade, lets hope something (or someone) quickly steps in to fill the gap.


My colleague and friend Annie Moss has a wheat intolerance. This isn’t the start of a joke or anything. She is so annoyed at how both restaurants and supermarkets appear slow to highlight her gluten-free needs that she’s started blogging about it. She also has a fantastic appetite for puns. Visit it here: www.musingsofmoss.blogspot.com