Riding my Storm by Timmy Murphy

I was finally able to finish this wonderful book. Since a short time I am into horse racing and am interested in a few jockeys and horses. Timmy Murphy is one of the jockeys. I was able to get this book through Ebay and it was a great read. I started and it was hard to put it down. Timmy wrote this book together with someone else, but it is like you are Timmy. He is very open about himself and his past and present. It was great to read where Timmy came from and I have nothing but respect for him. He told me all about his alcoholproblem, which lead him to jail for a few months. He thought his carreer as jockey was over, but he came back stronger than ever. I really like the way this book is written. It is like Timmy himself is talking to you. Especially when he describes the Grand National of 2008, when he won on Comply or Die. It was a wonderful to see the race from Timmy´s point of view.



They were a wonderful team, but Timmy also talks about other horses like Beef or Salmon, which was one of his favorites. This book is a great read for people who love to know more about the person behind the jockey. This book tells about the comradery in the weight room, but also about the downsides of being a jockey. It was a great pleasure to read this book. I read a lot of books once and when they are "just nice" I sell them again, but this is a book for keep. I enjoyed reading it and I was a bit sad when it was finished. I am reading another book now, but I will be reading Timmy's book another time soon. I recommand this book to all who loves horses, as it shows that jockeys really care about their horses. It must be frustrating when you think you have been good on your horse and some others think you are not and get fined or banned. I am sure that race horses are well looked after, and this book is a proof of that. Well done Timmy and I hope to see you many more years to come as jockey.

Snobs, by Julian Fellowes

I was very intrigued when I read the description of the book, and I must say it was worth the read. Snobs is about an ordinary girl who marries herself into aristocracy. Julian Fellowes describes everything very well. He is a funny and witty writer and I really like the book. Julian is an actor who became a writer and he did very well if I look at this book. He makes fun of his own profession as actor and it is great to read it from an insider. He describes the characters in the story very well and you can make the picture in your head while you read. I think it is a great vacation read. It does well on beaches, in gardens and on balconies. I am looking forward to read more of Julian's book. I have Past Imperfect on my read list, but first I have some other books to read.

Nathaniel Parker, the garden man

Anna's husband Nathaniel was and is a famous actor. He is well known for his roles in the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Stardust, Flawless and even had a small part in The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. A side of Nathaniel that not many people know is that he loves to work in his garden. While Anna decorates the house, Nathaniel works in the garden. When they bought the house they are living in now, he landscaped the garden with the help from his mother Jill Parker. She has a lovely garden in Minster Lovell where she and her husband, the late, Sir Peter Parker have a weekend home. Their house was neglected and the garden looked like rubbish. She found out how to create a romantic garden and even wrote a book about it. It is out of print, but it is a wonderful book. She helped her youngest son with his garden.



In my opinion they did a wonderful job. They even buildt a tree house for the children, although Nathaniel admits that their grown up friends are up there more than the children are. He is also very fond of his roses and olive trees. I think that he and Lady Jill Parker created a great garden that goes very well with the wonderful decorated house. They added a veranda to the house, so they can live outdoors aswell. And if the weather allows it they do that a lot. The veranda is a tribute to Australia, where Anna's mother comes from. I hope to see more of their work in garden and home soon.

Anna Parker

As some of you might know I am a huge fan of former actress/interior designer Anna Parker. She had a feature in the Living Etc of May last year, where they showed pictures of her stylish white house. Ofcourse I have the magazine and the pictures. I love the white and the little bit of colour she added to it. Recently I found pictures of a "new" Parker house. It is still white, but with more colour. If I am honest I like this more than the white. Anna really is a talent when it comes to interior design. She gives me lot of inspiration for changes in my flat. I don't have her budget, but I can do it all my way and with my own budget. I like Anna's point of view. She combines stuff she bought when she was 20 with new stuff. I really think she is amazing and creates a stylish and compfy home for her husband Nathaniel and their two children Angel and Raffy.



The pictureon top is a view of the living room, while the second picture shows a nice and cosy kitchen where Anna can cook and entertain people at the same time. Anna loves to cook and to entertain. She was a wonderful actress, but she is a hell of an interior designer. I know who I am going to hire to decorate my house when I win the lottery.

Michael Jackson

He was always there in my life and now he is gone. It was a shock to hear that Michael Jackson died last week. I remember watching TV and see him sing and dance with his brothers in the Jackson 5. I was totally mad about the song Ben. I was 3 or maybe 4 years old, but I liked him. I grew up and so did he. He started a solo carreer and I saw his first real videoclips. I still see myself in bed watching Count Down (a very populair music show in the Netherlands at the time) because Thriller was going to be on. After 8 o'clock. I watched it on my little black and white TV and was scared to death when I saw all these creepy figures. I was happy not to see it in colour. It was the talk of the day, next day at school. He had more hits and I watched his video clips on TV. I saw him change. His face, colour, behaviour and the gossip machine started to roll. In the 90s Michael went down hill for me when it came to music. He still had good songs, but not as good as they used to be. There were even more scandals at the time. I catched a glimpse of him when I worked in Disneyland Paris in the summer of 1996. He spent a few days there in September, during my last few days there. I still remember seeing all these fans at the entrance of the parc, in front of the Disneyland Hotel screaming for Michael. I had to stop them (with many other colleagues) from hunting him down to the store in the hotel. He was surrounded by bodyguards and had a boy with him. I thought it wasn't clever to do this what happened with this boy Jordan something. I always thought that this boy was after Michaels money. So was the other boy who was eager to appear with Michael in the Bashir documentary. He "loved" Michael and crawled all over him in the documentary. A few weeks later he claimed to be abused by Michael. I never believed that. I always thought that that boy was after his money. And there were more people after that. The last part of his life were marked by other scandals. But people forget that Michael did a lot of good things too. He helped a lot of charities and did a lot of good things for sick children and those in need. I was shocked to hear about his death. Michael was there all my life and now he is gone. I was never a fan, but I did and do like his music. Not all songs, but a lot of his hits are really good. He was a good entertainer and dancer. In my opinion we lost a great personality in him. I hope Michael is happy and in peace where he is now. I know that I will never forget him. He left us with a lot of great music and some wonderful clips. If I look at Thriller now, it gives me a good laugh and it is a great trip down memory lane, but it still is one of my favorites. May peace be with him.

Malice in Wonderland

There are some films you really want to reach the cinema, and this is one of them. A few days ago I found the trailer of Malice in Wonderland on the internet. I was interested already as Nathahiel Parker, my favorite actor, as some of you might know, was in. But the trailer blew me away. I am not a fan of the Alice film that Walt Disney made. It is not bad, just not my cup of tea. I have never read the books either. But this trailer made me more curious. This is a film I really want to see. The director Simon Fellows turned the Alice story into a great film, from what I saw. There was some rumour about Misha Barton playing the lead, but in the end it was Maggie Grace who got the part of Alice. I never saw any film she did, but in this trailer she is great. I really like her. Ofcourse the trailer don't says it all, but it looks good. Maggie is a wonderful Alice and Nathaniel Parker finally gets to show that he can play villain characters. He plays the King and Queen in one. From what I saw in the trailer he did a marvelous job. The rest of the crew and cast too ofcourse. I really hope to see this film soon in the cinema. In the trailer it is mentioned that the film is in Post Production, but from what I understand the film is finished and can be released. I hope they do it soon, as for me it is one of the MUST SEE films of the year. There is not that many I look forward to, but this is one of the 3 films I am looking forward to this year. The others are the new Harry Potter and the Oliver Parker film, The Picture of Dorian Grey. But Malice is in top position. I hope it will reach the cinemas in the country I live, and otherwise I try to see it in a cinema in another country. This is a film that is made for the cinema, and I really keep my fingers crossed for a wonderful release. I hope it will be a much better release as Flawless got. Maggie Grace looks stunning in this publicity picture. The film is very colourfull from what I saw in the trailer and it will attract many people, young and old. Maybe a good film for Christmas time, but to be honest, I hope to see it sooner than that.

Flawless

If there is a film that got very little attention in the press it is Flawless, a diamond heist thriller by Michael Radford. I wonder why. I saw the film and I loved it. The art of this film is, to quote Nathaniel Parker in a few interviews on the films release, "It is a film with no sex, no violence and no action". It is not an American Blockbuster, this is a gripping story. A great film that deserves much more attention. It played in the American cinemas for a short while 2 years ago, if I am correct. Last year finally the Uk was able to see it. I was very happy, because I was going to visit friends in London around the time the film came to the cinemas there. Bad luck for me as the film was out of the cinemas in a week. The Prince Charles cinema, off Leicester Square cancelled the film for some reason too. It was my only chance to see it in the cinema, but alas. I had hopes that this film came to the Dutch cinemas, but no luck in that either. I am very happy with the DVD release in the UK. The film is out on DVD in Australia and America already, but last month the UK was able to buy this great film. It didn't get much publicity. I really wonder why. This is such a great film. Not an American blockbuster as I said earlier, but a great story that is told wonderfully by cast and crew.

What is it about I hear you say. Well, it is about an executive that is overlooked by her bosses for promotions at the London Diamond Corporation. She has the experience and the talent, but her boss thinks that women were not suit to lead a company like this in the 60s. She meets a night-time janitor and together they plan a diamond heist that will keep London talking for years to come. Demi Moore and Michael Caine play the leading parts. Also there are good parts for Josh Ackland and Lambert Wilson. The real reason I watched this film is that Nathaniel Parker had a part in it aswell. Not that big, but any film with Nathaniel in it is good for me. This film however, is a special one. This is how a story needs to be told. The good thing for me is that nothing happens and still you are at the edge of your seat. I wish there were more films like Flawless. It is a shame that this film is so overlooked by both crowd and press. This film deserves a better chance. If you click on the link under this blog, you can see an interview Nathaniel Parker recently did for the DVD release of Flawless in the UK.

http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=35069