Month: October 2017

Running Forward, Dancing Back

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Here’s a lyric that’s waiting for its melody ….

 

Running Forward, Dancing Back

 

You could be my dream come true

All I want is all of you

All this flirting never ends

Then you say we’re only friends

 

Is this real or fantasy

Are you playing games with me?

Are you feeding me a lie?

Waiting for my heart to die

 

 

It’s foolish to deny, don’t try to run away

It’s plain for all to see, the truth you never say

But we keep running down this track

Three steps forward, Two steps back

So look me in the eye and tell me what you see

Just say what’s on your mind and what you want from me

Then we keep dancing down this track

Two steps forward, One step back

 

 

Why do I keep coming back?

For another charm attack

I just only want to please

All you ever do is tease

 

Others see the games you play

Tell me I should walk away

I let you make all the rules

Smile at me and I’m your fool

 

 

I have to wonder why, you’re choosing to deny

This tension is so real, this fire that we feel

But we keep running down this track

Three steps forward, Two steps back

It’s driving me insane, this life of endless pain

I’ve nothing left to lose; it’s time for you to choose

Then we keep dancing down this track

Two steps forward, One step back

 

 

So many sleepless nights wishing you were here

Holding you close to feel you breathe, your naked body touching mine

So many dreams of what we’d do if you were here

I could taste you, kiss you, tease you, please you, wrap my love around you

 

 

See the goal but then it’s gone

Always stringing me along

I’ve laid my truth on the line

Why do you still waste my time?

 

Throw away the foolish rules

Made to chain the weaker fools

Here is where we’re meant to be

Take me now or set me free.

 

 

 

I have to wonder why, you’re choosing to deny

This tension is so real, this fire that we feel

But we keep running down this track

Three steps forward, Two steps back

 

So look me in the eye and tell me what you see

Just say what’s on your mind and what you want from me

Then we keep dancing down this track

Two steps forward, One step back

 

It’s foolish to deny, don’t try to run away

It’s plain for all to see, the truth you never say

But we keep running down this track

Three steps forward, Two steps back

 

It’s driving me insane, this life of endless pain

I’ve nothing left to lose; it’s time for you to choose

Then we keep dancing down this track

Two steps forward, One step back

 

 

Three steps forward, Two steps back

 

Two steps forward, One step back

 

Running forward,

 

Dancing back.

 

©Michael Young 2017

 

 

Victoria & Abdul

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With a free ticket to the local cinema about to expire, I found the only currently showing title of any interest to me was VICTORIA & ABDUL.  I knew nothing about the movie other than the adds and my enjoyment of the TV series Victoria.  I am so thankful I chose this movie.

The story is so beautifully crafted, the script played my emotions like a symphony through many waves of laughter, anger and tears.  I was not alone with my tears as it seemed everyone in the cinema was moved by this gem of a movie … except for the old fool near me who was snoring during the most important part of the dialogue and his wife’s phone rang then as well … some people just have no dignity or consideration!

Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal were mesmerising.  Stephen Frears’ direction is faultless.  The other cast were amazing and included the final performance by the now late Tim Pigott-Smith who I first saw in the 1976 Doctor Who episodes The Masque Of Mandragora.   

I loved this movie and I loved how it moved me.

10 Champagnes out of 10!

VA 1

 

VICTORIA & ABDUL

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/movies-tv-shows/movies-tv-shows-on-sale/drama/victoria-abdul/499513/

 

VICTORIA: Series ONE & TWO

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-1-Blu-ray-Jenna-Louise-Coleman/dp/B0752SBHR6/ref=pd_sim_74_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KZ4PQ9CMT43T3R4HZMMY

 

 

DOCTOR WHO: MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/movies-tv-shows/movies-tv-shows-on-sale/tv-sci-fi/doctor-who-masque-of-mandragora/268156/

 

 

 

Garbage

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On Thursdays, I usually put the garbage bins out at around 8 am because they’re never collected until Thursday afternoon.  Last night, Wednesday, I had the thought to put the bins out then… so I did.

This morning, at 7 am, I was still in bed when I heard the Garbage truck collecting our bin.  Good thing I listened to that thought last night!

Synchronicity.

Running Blind

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Here’s another piece of verse I wrote called Running Blind which relates to my escape from the job I hated …

 

I was running when I thought I was walking

Thought I was walking but it seems I was falling

I was dying when I thought I was living

Thought I was living but it seems I was lying

 

 

Trying to be heard through the chaos

Of voices never listening

Hearing vacant words of confusion

From the hearts never learning

Swept forward by time to somewhere

Not sure how to get there

The drone of routine and safety

That still leads to nowhere

 

 

I was breathing when I thought I was laughing

Thought I was laughing but it seems I was screaming

I was crying when I thought I was singing

Thought I was singing when it seems I was breaking

 

 

When I fell I came down so hard

Could see no way ahead

I just knew I could not go back

To the way that it had been

It’s so clear the cracks were showing

My pain had been denied

So now I know I could not see

The writing on the wall

 

 

I was stumbling when I thought I was dancing

Thought I was dancing but it seems I’m the fool

I was caged there when I thought I was moving

Thought I was moving now I see I had died

 

 

I was running when I thought I was walking

Thought I was walking but it seems that I fell

I was lying when I thought I was living

Thought I was living but I’m still running blind.

 

 

©MICHAEL YOUNG 2017

Downriver

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DOWNRIVER is a dark Aussie movie with a number of gay characters, but not what I would call a Gay movie otherwise.  Not a movie that I will ever watch again or recommend to others as an enjoyable night’s viewing.

The cast were exceptional in their performances, but the story was slow, depressing and had some obvious holes.  We need movies with some magic, some style instead of all this dark, brooding arty indulgence.

Sometimes writing and directing your own movie can be a risk because it can become self-indulgent and many of the checks and balances of bigger productions are not there, but then there are some crap Hollywood movies that should never have been funded as well.  This movie was funded by a number of big Australian film finance groups and I question why they would finance a gay movie that is so dark and adds nothing to the GLBTIQ legacy.  It must be about who you know.  Dare I say it, my partner and I have recently written stories that would make far more engaging Aussie Gay movies but how the hell do we get from here to where they did to get the financing and get our stories out there to uplift many, many in our community and beyond, rather than this movie that uplifted no-one?

4 Champagnes out of 10.

Down 1

AUS:

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/movies-tv-shows/movies-tv-shows-on-sale/drama/downriver/310301/

 

UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Downriver-DVD-Reef-Ireland/dp/B01J4805E4/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=michaelyounga-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=e0d9e4b5719075e9a05397377019544d&creativeASIN=B01J4805E4

 

 

 

Ice Blues

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ICE BLUES is the fourth and final movie in the series of Donald Strachey Mysteries.

This one is about the consequences of a missing $3M.  An action packed mystery thriller kind of Gay thing with elegance, charm and humour.  Oh, and martinis are still essential to the setting.  Still has the same corny style of titles and music.

8 Martinis out of 10.

Ice B 1

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Blues-Mystery-About-Films/dp/B01769AU34/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=michaelyounga-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=0e71d530fb01013bbc32c9e5e19e79e3&creativeASIN=B01769AU34

 

Victoria S2 E6

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VICTORIA Season 2 Episode 6.  In general I love this series from BBC with Jenna Coleman playing the role of her lifetime exceptionally, a stellar cast, great writing and exceptional production values.

However, Season 2 Episode 6: FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY was the most brilliant episode of TV Drama I have seen in a long time.  This episode is about the Irish Potato Famine of the mid 19th Century and the courage of Dr Robert Traill.

Series creator and writer, Daisy Goodwin, deserves to win awards for her amazing work on this episode.  Also beautifully directed by Jim Loath.  I was reduced to tears several times.

10 Potatoes out of 10.

Season 2:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-2-Blu-ray-Jenna-Louise-Coleman/dp/B07531CFN4/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=michaelyounga-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=90f86b0a7d0f94b7354e0df45ce89fd5&creativeASIN=B07531CFN4

 

Vic 2 a

Season 1&2:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-1-Blu-ray-Jenna-Louise-Coleman/dp/B0752SBHR6/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=michaelyounga-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=2d36beb2817d0fad45976f4d3cefffed&creativeASIN=B0752SBHR6

Vic 1 2 a

Empire/ This Is Us

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EMPIRE/ THIS IS US.  Both shows have returned for another season but they were really struggling to hold my attention.  Then suddenly with Episode 6 they both returned to the standard of their previous seasons and blew me away.  I question how it can take six episodes of a series before the endless list of producers realise that they are getting it wrong.  Is that how long they take to get our viewer feedback and make the needed changes?

Well, they are back on form and even reducing me to tears again in Ep 6 & 7 of THIS IS US.

UPDATE:  Jan 2018:  THIS IS US Episode 10 was so unengaging, dull and weakly written that I am now DUMPING this series for good!

https://www.facebook.com/EmpireFOX/

Emp 1

https://www.facebook.com/NBCThisIsUs/

This 1