Every 14 Days...(35)

Golazo! (Andreas Campomar)

No, not the title music from Channel 4's 1990s 'Football Italia' - well, maybe - but the story of football in Latin America (it's was £3.99 and I needed a book to read). Andreas Campomar is a man, supposedly the great-grand-nephew of Enrique Buero, the Uruguayan who convinced Jules Rimet to hold the first World Cup there so they could win it.

Starting from the points of origin in the Nineteenth Century, it goes on to chart the rise of The Beautiful in each of the South America's nations, and Mexico, and how each adopted it in their own way, right up to the point when Messi couldn't look more disappointed to win the Golden Ball in Brazil.

This is pretty standard stuff. From reading this rather long book, you will learn a fair few results of early South American football matches; how some Scottish and Hungarian men had some influences in the development of the game; and that Campomar doesn't particularly care for the English game (i.e. the English and how they play football - Oi!).

This has its moments, but overall, it's a little long and repetitive, a bit like the last few World Cup finals.

Days to read: 25

Days per book: 15.1

Nomad (Alan Partridge*)

'This certainly is a book that has been written...' ('Homes Under the Hammer' House-valuiser, Dion Dublin)

I, Alan Partridge, am a fraud. Over close to three decades, I have made a concerted, and indeed correct, effort to present myself, Alan Partridge, as a pillar of this modern-day society. By carefully constructing my outward persona as a Daily Mail-reading, un-show-offy-priced-superior-car-driving, sports casual-wearing man you can trust, I have established an above-average career in media broadcasting, free from any questioning by local authorities.

But this, I can now confirm, is hodgepotch! For I, Alan Partridge, am a rouge, a maverick...a nomad.

Having recently de-cluttered some loft space to make room for my Bodymax B2 Indoor Cycle Exercise Bike with LCD monitor, I unearthed a treasure map made by my father. Quickly discovering that any treasure associated with this map was metaphorical, I realised that this was indeed a plotting of my father's route from my childhood home to his failed job interview at Dungeness Nuclear Power Station. Recalling this as a brave and pivotal moment in my father's life, my 'nomad' side felt compelled to recreate his journey.

But no, not in the automotive mode of transport my old-fashioned father took. I, Alan Partridge, choose to use my automated feet, not so much following in the footsteps of my father, but rather treading on his tread marks, with nothing more than what FedEx can courier to the next B'n'B on my route.

What follows is a whirlwind tour from the Carphone Warehouse, Norwich (site of my childhood home) to the Romney Marsh of Kent. There are moments, revelations, and countless opportunities for format ideas, the likes of which Noel Edmonds can only dream of, as I embark on a once in a lifetime journey.

'As a person known for having such low standards, I was mildly impressed!' (Keren 'Bananarama' Woodward)

*Once again, I wish to pledge that, contrary to controversial e-rumours on the world wide website, Steve Coogan, Rob Gibbons and Neil Gibbons (whoever they are!) wrote not a jot of this mini-masterpiece. Every ruddy word was written by me, Alan Partridge.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.1

The Door (Magda Szabó)

This book is a bit of a reverse shit sandwich, in that it starts a bit shit, it then gets better, but then goes back to being a bit shit again by the end.

A young writer, seemingly an autobiographical version of Szabó herself, moves into a new flat in Budapest with her academic husband. The residency is managed by the elderly Emerence, a bit of a twat-bitch in all fairness. It's fair to say the trio don't really get along when Emerence takes on the additional role of looking after the young couple's flat for them as well. Over time, the two females grow accustomed to each other and accept each other's idiosyncrasies, however much they still appear to despise each other.

To start, this all feels a bit sentimental and 'tragic lives' and I was none too impressed. But, sticking with it, things improved as the two grow to learn about each other's lives in more detail, trying to understand the other's perspective. However, the building-to-the-inevitable end is a little annoying, as the pair fail to fully understand each other, as you fail to understand either of them at all.

The two lead characters are poor, neither in the slightest bit likeable, even for a person from Watford. Putting the two one side for a moment though, the dynamic between them developing as each comes to terms with the other is worthy of some merit. Though by the end, you suddenly remember that you have no time for either character: the young writer a spoilt brat that would fail to wipe her own arse with something she had written; and the elderly woman one to stubborn, cold and set-in-her-ways (with pride) to have any interest in trying to form any sort of meaningful interest in.

Maybe I'm being an old-fashioned, bigoted man, too set-in-my-ways to understand either character fully. But for a character-driven piece, what could have been decent is ultimately let down by personalities that, well, just leave a bit of a taste of shit in your mouth.

Days to read: 14 (woohoo!)

Days per book: 15.1

Every 14 Days...(31)

Opus (Satoshi Kon)

Despite my love of all things Japanese (well, apart from the bad things), I've never been much of a manga reader. While I have dabbled here and there, I have not got through many in my time. I am, however, a fan of all things by the late Satoshi Kon. A fan of his anime, I decided to give one of his manga a try.

'Opus' is an incomplete serial he worked on in the mid-Nineties, recently re-released in a near-complete form. Perhaps somewhat appropriately, it centres around a mangaka struggling to complete his manga serial 'Resonance'.

Pressured, suffering from writer's-block and unable to put pen to paper, the lines between fiction and reality are lost, as he becomes literally consumed by his own work. Once inside, he is considered 'God' by his characters and he has to deal with the consequences of his creation. He is questioned as to the lack of detail in backgrounds leaving an incomplete world and as to why he writes his characters' deaths.

Maybe this isn't anything too original, with the creator becoming an unsuspecting god, but you do get a sense of a semi-autobiographical nature from the work, written largely before his rise as a director. This is another strong addition to his body of work, setting a theme that would be throughout his feature films.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 14.7

Colors of the Mountain (Da Chen)

While I was doing my Master's dissertation at University - which partly featured a cultural look at China - I read Xin Ran's 'The Good Women of China'. Oh, I wish I hadn't. While others may like it, my English cynicism had me reading a book I found horribly over-sentimental, to the point where I found it difficult to read. The whole thing was far too 'tragic lives' for my liking. So, when my wife bought me Da Chen's memoirs for Christmas, maybe I was a little sceptical.

Now a celebrated flautist in the US of States, the first of Da Chen's memoirs focus on his school years in his home town of Yellow Stone in southern China, telling of his family's struggles as former landowners in Communist China and the daily abuse it brought them. Knowing the importance of family ties in Chinese culture and this being very much a family-driven affair, it can at times become a little too sentimental as he reminisces about the first fifteen-or-so years of his life. His family's past a constant burden for them, I feared this too would become a tale of a life tragic.

Luckily, however, Chen's status led him to befriend a group of street rascals, allowing for enough tales of boyhood hijinks to bring in some comedy and tales of doing those things teenage boys do to stop it becoming a little too heavy of the emotional superlatives.

This is a little of a bumpy ride, switching between boyhood pranks and family sentimentality, that can at times be good; at others be less so. But all-in-all this gives a good account of some of the difficulties that life in the second half of the Twentieth Century in China posed for people of certain backgrounds.   

Days to read: 15

Days per book: 14.7

Easily Distracted: My Autobiography (Steve Coogan)

If there's one thing that prompts immediate hatred inside my loins, it's naming your autobiography 'My Autobiography'. Public figures that have done this include Alex Ferguson and Rio Ferdinand; you know, that type. Here now comes another such memoir from a another man associated with Manchester; another man who thinks he's IT.

Maybe I'm being harsh (not on Rio Ferdinand) on Mr Steve Coogan here, however, for this is a man whom naming his autobiography 'MY Autobiography' might be something of a statement. This isn't Alan Partridge's autobiography - he's already co-written that - it's his, and you can see mild attempts to keep Partridge on the sidelines throughout, though always there.

Attempting to unearth the 'real' Steve Coogan is something that's been attempted before, and it's a bit cliché to write about how one of the country's most famous character actors struggles to find himself. Of course segments feel like they could have come from the mind of a Norwich-based radio DJ, but it is a part he's played for over two decades now, and so is part of him; this is perhaps why the book starts at the end, focusing on more recent works, such as 'Philomena' and his part in the hacking scandal.

The book then moves into his childhood - a major focus of the book - gradually building to drama college and early breaks into comedy and performing, occasionally veering here and there along the way.

He's a man that probably hasn't done things through the typical routes, perhaps to the annoyance of some around him, seeking both success and critical acclaim hand-in-hand. This isn't the best autobiography - not the deepest or most revealing - and so doesn't leave you feeling a better understanding of the man of certain mystery, though that's perhaps the role he chooses to play most when in the public eye.

Days to read: 14

Days per book: 14.7

A Brief History of Seven Killings (Marlon James)

This book is a bit of an epic. A nomination for the Man Booker Prize brought this to my consciousness; and its winning of said award prompted me to mention it enough to my wife while I saw someone reading it on a flight to Budapest to force her to buy it for me as a Christmas present. You soon discover you are one of the crowd reading this.

Telling the story of an assassination attempt on Bob Marley at his Kingston home in 1976, this book morphs into something so much more, with 'the Singer' more a symbol than an actual character throughout. The attack is placed in the context of gang violence, political turmoil - with the CIA's attempts to fend off Communism - and change in Jamaica from the Seventies to the Nineties, following the fates of the men that carried out the attempt on Marley's life.

This book is massively ambitious and clearly one that took a lot of research to build: It has many layers, many voices and, as a result, many pages. The continual changing of the narrator keeps it from dragging too much, however, and it finishes a rewarding work, if maybe a little inconsistent along the way.

But, being a book loosely themed around Bob Marley and its recent successes will mean that this is a book that is clearly 'cool' to be seen reading, as the daily readers on London's Northern Line confirmed each day.

Days to read: 37

Days per book: 14.8

Sounds of the River (Da Chen)

'Sounds of the River' is the second half of Da Chen's grandfather's verse, and the memoir of the second phase of his life, having left Yellow Stone to start University in Beijing, studying English language.

This is a slightly different time in a big city, with the Cultural Revolution now over and a more modern outlook on the world surrounding the young man. Thoughts now turn to fashions, foreign cigarettes and translating for NBA stars.

Again, the book is a little bumpy, switching between moments of humour, but then being far, far, far too joyful in his descriptions of everyone that crosses his path. Towards the end though things get all a little too much for me as his dreams of reaching America grow nearer. While you can appreciate his appreciation of his family, it perhaps is given too much emphasis on the book's conclusion, bringing a slightly disappointing end to the memoirs as a whole.

Days to read: 20

Days per book: 14.9

Philomena

A film with moments of comedy, co-written by and starring Steve Coogan, 'Alpha Papa' was released in 2013. But lo, I jest. 'Philomena' is perhaps a turning point in Coogan's career, having spent much of his time on the silver screen in self-admittedly poor films popping up alongside snorty-snorty friends in bit-part roles in Hollywood crap. While comedy is indeed an element in the film, 'Philomena' is potentially the start of a maturing for Coogan, as he moves towards making the films he'd probably like to make, rather than end up in.

'Based on true events', lead, Judi Dench, plays Philomena, an elderly Irish woman living in London who, on the day that would be his fiftieth birthday, wants to locate her son, taken from her and adopted while she was in a convent in her teenage years. Having no luck herself, a chance encounter with journalist Martin Sixsmith (Coogan) leads him to help her in her search; his career having taken a backward step.

As with any one-on-one film, the pair are opposites: Philomena a devout Catholic, believing in the good in people; Martin a cynical atheist, with little belief in anything. Seeing the story as a possible career boost, he uses his contacts to fund the search and publish the story, inevitably learning more about life than a simple 'human interest' story.

For Dench, it was probably always inevitable that the reviews would be strong and the award nominations would follow. Though for Coogan, the reception was a little less obvious, writing and acting in a much more serious role. In terms of acting, despite the odd slightly cringe-worthy moment, he does a good job playing a job role he so loathes, while the writing - alongside Jeff Pope - is strong, finding a good balance between sentimentality and comedy in adapting Sixsmith's book.

'Philomena' will add another strong performance to Dench's long list of roles, while 2013 has been a big year in terms of Coogan's career, possibly putting Partridge to bed with a film and moving into more serious acting roles in 'The Look of Love' and now 'Philomena' and it will be interesting to see which direction it moves next, though it seems clear he would like more critical acclaim than laughs from now. That said, intentional or not, one comes away feeling more entertained than heartbroken by the film's conclusion. 

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

So goes with any popular comedy character(s), a film needs to be made to essentially kill them off,  in a 'we won't be making any more of these' sense, as well artistically. Most inevitably succeed financially, but are often poor attempts at transferring a character that works in a thirty minute format to the big screen.

And so now comes one of the great British comedy characters: Alan Partridge. With the previous incarnations of Alan Gordon Partridge, it would be easy to suggest that the character wouldn't work on the big screen: spoof news show sports reporting; chat show; claustrophobic, fly-on-the-wall account of a man's life crumbling; and web-cam radio show. Turning a much-loved character from intentionally un-cool scenarios into the more dramatic setting required for cinema is a different-shaped potato altogether.

Well, to start, the three original writers, all involved here, have all have experience working in cinema, albeit inconsistent, and as such know how to work within the medium. The problem is, would this be one of their hits rather than misses?

While not a corking, copper-bottomed hit, 'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' is one of the better conversions. Quite nicely, they have put the character in the sort of scenario he dreams of, though would be unable to cope with should it occur. Unless of course, there is quality broadcasting to made. But with Partridge, it's the mundane nature of the situations that make it so good, and so while the film doesn't completely disappoint, it isn't the best incarnation of the character to date, and is arguably, the worst.

It's disappointing that there are fewer of the regular Partridge faces from the past included within the cast, though this is probably a compromise that had to be made when moving to cinema, with the likes of Colm Meaney and Sean Pertwee drafted in. Compromise is probably what saves the film from becoming the depressing romp that comedy films can often descend into, with endless horrible afterthoughts thrown in at the end as the film concludes. Enough balance has been made to ensure that it is a film that can stand up on its own merits, but also not completely disappointing worshipers of Partridge.  

There are some good Partridge moments, like his choice of vehicle, though there is nothing particularly here to add to the endlessly quotable lines delivered by Steve Coogan. Instead, it is an enjoyable enough ninety minutes of comedy that builds the Partridge character further, leaving some possibility that the old dog isn't quite dead just yet.    

The Look of Love

With the recent release of the UK’s rich list in The Sunday Times, the timing of the release of Michael Winterbottom’s biopic of Paul Raymond, one of Britain’s very own millionaires, seems appropriate. With a cast reading like a UK comedy rich list, led by ‘the man who thinks he’s it’, Steve Coogan, a film about one of Britain’s most famed smut peddlers has the potential to go any number of ways.

Charting his rise from lowly entertainer to Britain’s richest man, the focus of much of the plot is on his relationships with the most important women in his life: his wife, Jean Raymond (Anna Friel), his lover Fiona Richmond (Tamsin Egerton) and, most importantly, his daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots). While riding the wave of success his money brings, gradually, each of these relationships breaks down as he fails to leave the clubs, magazines and women behind and form a normal life.

Starting in black and white, in what seems like a slow-paced montage, WInterbottom adds colour to the screen as the Soho nightlife begins and the female clothing ends. The film then dives into a world of sex and drugs and every hole’s a goal, as the money builds and Raymond’s fancies change.

While the main plot focus is on Raymond’s relationships, these are often interspersed with scenes from his various nude shows or photo shoots for magazines that leave little to the imagination. These could, perhaps, have been toned down a little, or even left out, but being that this is a Michael Winterbottom film, there is a sense of trying to push boundaries, though this lacks the ambitious nature of ‘A Cock and Bull Story’ of the ground-breaking release of ‘9 Songs’.

The juxtaposition of music gigs and full sex scenes in ‘9 Songs’; the dialogue between Coogan and Rob Brydon and English countryside in ‘The Trip’ manifest here as love and lust in Raymond’s life, with his love of the women in his life sabotaged by his lust for looking at beautiful women naked and results in a decent little film, but never pushing too far beyond that. More could have been done to add humour into the script or put more into his troubled relationships, rather than filling time with scenes that result from the BBFC’s more relaxed governing – a situation Winterbottom helped create.

The performances here are good, though you do want Coogan to let out an ‘ah-ha’ every now and then, showing he is yet to fully shake the monkey off his back. Imogen Poots is convincing enough in making you believe she’s the annoying result of a slightly warped upbringing; and Chris Addison shows he is perhaps more method actor than stand-up comedian. Though Dara O’Briain will never pull-off an 80s Alexei Sayle.

British films featuring a cast of comedians with a slightly raunchy theme come from a long line in tradition of being neither sexy nor funny. ‘The Look of Love’ does not follow a similar path, though perhaps here, much like with Raymond himself, lust slightly overpowers love, leaving neither fully satisfied. 

Every 14 Days...(6)

Kappa (Akutagawa Ryunosuke)

On reading alone, ‘Kappa’ would seem like a book written by a man at the point of madness. A man is thrown into the ‘kappa world’ to live among these strange, mythical creatures from Japanese folklore, gradually learning their idiosyncrasies and customs.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was at the point of madness when writing one of his longer works; finished not long before his suicide. On writing about the kappa world, he looks at all aspects of life: politics, religion, love, war, law, entertainment, health, etc., serving as a critique from an outsider’s perspective. Obviously doubling as a critique of the Japan in which he lived and how customs often get in the way of logic and sense to an onlooker.

Akutagawa himself was marginalised at this stage, being in and out of psychiatric hospitals, and so chose to look at society for what it was from a distance; and saw madness in the method.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.3

The Japanization of Modernity: Murakami Haruki between Japan and the United States (Rebecca Suter)

This is a book written in English by an American about a Japanese author that I bought in Hong Kong. Read coincidentally to coincide with the UK release of his new work ‘1Q84’, Suter’s work is essentially a PhD look at his work across cultures in both Japan and the US.

Mainly looking into his shorts (ho ho), the differing reception of his work in the US and Japan is compared, with more traditional critics in Japan believing his works are not Japanese in style or content. Western critics, however, are more praising of his work and his look into identity from a global perspective.

Indeed, Suter believes that Murakami’s use of Western reference points in a Japanese setting give him a global appeal that is both normal and exotic at the same time. A timely conclusion with his latest offering creating midnight openings on its release.

Days to read: 39

Days per book: 16.5

I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan (Alan Partridge*)

‘A real corker!’ (Toby Anstis)

With every Tom, Dick and Harry feeling the need to tell us about their – quite frankly pitiful – lives, I thought it best that I, Alan Partridge, set the world to rights with my follow up to the Loddon Eye Best Seller, ‘Bouncing Back’.

Think of the book as thus: An all-out, balls-to-the-wall account of my life, career and the bits in between. Shooting from the hip and taking absolutely no prisoners, much of what was written was deemed ‘too hot’ by my original publishers, Penguin. ‘Goolies to that!’ was my uncompromising response. Harper Collins being a much more thorough company, I decided to take my work to them instead.

So, sit back, relax, grab a mug of Nestle’s Milo Nutritious Energy Drink, prepare a dictionary and thesaurus (it gets a little tricky in parts) and do not p-p-p-p-pick up a Penguin. Pick up a fantastic Harper Collins. But don’t take it from me, take it from mambo soul crooner, Lou Bega…

‘This is my mambo number 1!’ (Lou Bega)

*I would like to make it categorically clear that, contrary to controversial e-rumours on the world wide website, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Rob Gibbons and Neil Gibbons (whoever they are!) wrote not a jot of this mini-masterpiece. Every ruddy word was written by me, Alan Partridge.

Days to read: 11

Days per book: 16.2