We went to an absolutely banging restaurant in Montpellier the other day. Terminal 1 by the Frères Pourcel, who used to run a Michelin 3 Star restaurant in town. They closed it down to concentrate on their money and opened this place, which they describe as a Bistrot Gastronomique. It's a tendency which is becoming more popular all the time in France - the idea is to serve gastronomic food at bistro prices, and boy do they do that. Amuse bouches, starter, main, coffee with mignardises (violet Turkish delight for the woot), €36 a head. So, life is good as we're going back in a fortnight.
That sounds fabulous. As does the idea of a Bistrot Gastronomique. Once you're freed from the financial burdens of maintaining a Star like the silverware and staff ratio, I guess it's possible to make that food profitable at a more reasonable price!
Just made a movie I love, and love everyone in it. Meanwhile, dogs and music and sushi still exist. But NO DOG SUSHI! (Unless, of course, it's a musical!)
The TV series Spirited, available here on Amazon. Set in Australia, it’s about the ghost of a punk rock singer who is trapped in a hotel, and only one person can see and hear him. I think it’s brilliant!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sTntGYbeI63YU0YL1sKfc?si=iPBjxhXSSwSquStvOq5wVg This fantastic history podcast, The Rest Is History, written by two English historians, is worth a listen. This particular episode from 2 years ago compares the US political set up to Ancient Rome and asks if Trump is modelling himself on Julius Caesar 😉
I’m putting the finishing touches on a song I’ve recorded and am sifting through video snippets to put something cohesive together. Though I’m a New Yorker, one of my favorite places in the world is Maui, particularly the northern part, encompassing Lahaina, which was utterly destroyed by fire and smoke. The lyric content of this song concerns a man trying to help a young girl find her sister in the wreckage and I think I’m really on to something here. The music is inspired by Marvin Gaye’s ‘inner city blues’, but only in feel, not at all melodic. I’m sure you know all about the joys of inspiration and creation and I’m kinda riding that high now.
Re-reading great fiction is proving a lifeline right now. Just finished Theodore Sturgeon’s astonishing ‘More than Human’ which is something like the Catcher in the Rye crossed with the Doom Patrol. And *sycophancy alert* the novels of a certain MMS under various pen names. Finished re-listening to The Anomaly last week and it was marvellous (apart from Ken’s accent).
I haven't listened to the audio of that... I have SUCH a strong sense of how Ken sounds (as you do, by the sound of it) that I couldn't bear to hear it otherwise...
I'm a bit like you with live gigs, but I think it's partly because I was a musician & for a long time only went to things where I knew somebody on the stage, so always got my name on the door. That includes everything from Wembley [Chic, Muse] to Donnington [ZZ Top, Marillion] & a lot of smaller gigs in between.
We'd just bowl up, find hospitality & have a good natter with the supposed cognoscenti until the band went on. Then we'd often nip out into a protected area to watch from, or occasionally mooch out to mingle with the great unwashed for a song or two before heading back to protective custody.
I'm aware this may make me sound like an arse, but that was how gigs were. I once spent the entirety of a Billy Ocean gig standing right at the back, chatting to a couple of St John's nurses instead of paying any attention whatsoever to the band for whom my mate was Musical Director.
However, one time I went as a regular punter to see bruce Springsteen, with a bunch of ordinary mates, not music biz people. Like you, I'm a bit bored after an hour. He was on for four and a half hours. I thought it would never end.
On the upside… I did once meet Ron Wood, walking his dog past a pub in West London we were filming in. Turns out it was his local. He had all the time in the world to just stand and chat with me and a couple of lighting guys. No rush, no airs, no graces. Lovely bloke.
Everything I see and hear about Ronnie suggests that he's just a nice bloke who's REALLY HAPPY about how his life has turned out...
I've had a couple of gig experiences like the ones you mention, friend of the band deal, and that's MUCH more of a fun time. A social event (plus a little bit of feeling like a main character for once, or main character-adjacent) rather than being forced to sit and listen to something for hours. There is no way I could get through a Springsteen gig...
I could watch McCartney for four and a half hours. The near three hour gig I saw on TV from Glasto in '22 was a true moment. His voice may not be quite as good as it was, but it's still there in the main & I did notice he didn't change a key anywhere, everything was in the original, even the famous voice-busters.
If you haven't seen it, you can get the whole thing on YouTube these days.
The cherries locally are really good this year. We are re-watching Six Feet Under and think it's really worthwhile. It held up very well over the last 20 years due to great acting and writing.
Our yard is alive with monarch butterflies due to the milkweed we planted. it is pure joy to watch them fly about. Also, our neighbor shared a ghost story, and she was interviewed for a podcast about it. A good haunting always raises my spirits. https://snapjudgment.org/episode/spooked-teachers-pet/
Jul 19·edited Jul 19Liked by Michael Marshall Smith
It's my burfday today so coming to terms with that😫😋
In regards to the orange orangutan, I've just binge watched in the last 2 weeks seasons 5, 6 and 7 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It is amazing how the jokes about how difficult Trump would make life, how cultish the maga republicans have become and how tyrannical he would try to make himself have manifested into truth 4yrs later!
Brightside -
Have binge watched Mayor of Kingstown and have to say bloody loved it!
Finished The Straw Men Trilogy by a writer I'm trying to promote. Think he shows some word goodness with vocabularic writingtons.
Also audio booked, whilst working, The complete works of PG Wodehouse, read by Stephen Fry. Absolutely wonderful! Plum was a genius!
Also finished the Louis Theroux memoir Gotta get Theroux this. Quite a lot of interesting stuff on Jimmy Saville, Scientology and other docos he's made.
Apologies to orangutans by the way. They are awesome! Trump is prick.
We have a woodchuck in our back yard, and it has decided to come out and watch us whenever we are doing work there. I put some raw peanuts out for it, and now it has a picnic while watching us plant things. Kind of a reversal of what we do - eat on the patio and watch it. Makes me smile every time.
I had the movie La Antena, from the Argentinian film maker Esteban Sapir, recommended and I'm so glad I took the time to watch it. It's pure Expressionist cinema, full of imagination and lyrical imagery, and is just constantly inventive. A real reminder that we rarely ever tap what visual storytelling can do. Loved it https://youtu.be/dMs0n0qUMUY?si=KoGk5RV-_iDWWMui
Well, I’m in the UK, so you pretty much covered the “something good”. It’s like when you’ve got some obscure muscle that you didn’t realise was so so tight that suddenly let’s go. Aaaaah.
We were there a couple of weeks before the election and the tension was palpable... but be good to feel you can, at least for a little while, breathe again.
Hurrah, the team that are only *fairly* useless and *slightly* corrupt won! Churchill's remark about democracy being the worst form of government apart from everything else has never rung truer. Although to be fair to Stamer, pretty much the first thing he did was kill the Rwanda programme, so points for that.
I’d say, film first, then book. There’s some extra framing in the book, which adds to the film (which is very faithful to the book), but which I think is better experienced after the bizarrity of the film.
Jul 20·edited Jul 20Liked by Michael Marshall Smith
I think in general, where possible, it's better to watch the film before reading the book. It's in the nature of adaptation that the film is always going to miss some of the best stuff from the book...and if you like the film, you can go to the book and expect a fuller, rounder version of what you enjoyed in the film.
Really love this reminder that with so many things on fire, it's important not to lose sight of the good things that are not... you know... on fire. So here are a few:
We recently finished watching 'Shrinking' and I think it's in my top 10 TV shows ever
Got a bit of exciting career news
The broad beans my boyfriend guerilla planted in the front garden are coming good
My Philadelphus plant flowered for a second time
My dad called me yesterday and we had a lovely chat
OMG Shrinking was so good. So very good. I'm kinda worried that they're doing a second season, and wonder if they should have just left it as a pretty perfect limited...
Lovely to have a good chat with a parent. I miss that. But I had daily calls for 20+ years, so I can hardly complain :-)
Delighted to hear about the career news — and intrigued!
We went to an absolutely banging restaurant in Montpellier the other day. Terminal 1 by the Frères Pourcel, who used to run a Michelin 3 Star restaurant in town. They closed it down to concentrate on their money and opened this place, which they describe as a Bistrot Gastronomique. It's a tendency which is becoming more popular all the time in France - the idea is to serve gastronomic food at bistro prices, and boy do they do that. Amuse bouches, starter, main, coffee with mignardises (violet Turkish delight for the woot), €36 a head. So, life is good as we're going back in a fortnight.
That sounds fabulous. As does the idea of a Bistrot Gastronomique. Once you're freed from the financial burdens of maintaining a Star like the silverware and staff ratio, I guess it's possible to make that food profitable at a more reasonable price!
I WANT violet Turkish delight!
There's an amazing place named L'ami Jean in Paris, same principal!
In Paris, I love the Grand Colbert restaurant. They have the best fried chicken in the world.
I shall check it out next time!
OK
Just made a movie I love, and love everyone in it. Meanwhile, dogs and music and sushi still exist. But NO DOG SUSHI! (Unless, of course, it's a musical!)
Sushi and music and dogs/cats... they keep us going. And congrats on the movie!
THANKS!!! (And no offense meant to cats, who I also love madly!)
The TV series Spirited, available here on Amazon. Set in Australia, it’s about the ghost of a punk rock singer who is trapped in a hotel, and only one person can see and hear him. I think it’s brilliant!
Ooh, I'll have a look for it. Thank you!
Cats, obviously. Mine are both black and are hiding from the UK sunshine (27C today). If they could slip into a cooler dimension they would.
Yeah, cats, always.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sTntGYbeI63YU0YL1sKfc?si=iPBjxhXSSwSquStvOq5wVg This fantastic history podcast, The Rest Is History, written by two English historians, is worth a listen. This particular episode from 2 years ago compares the US political set up to Ancient Rome and asks if Trump is modelling himself on Julius Caesar 😉
Thank you!
I’m putting the finishing touches on a song I’ve recorded and am sifting through video snippets to put something cohesive together. Though I’m a New Yorker, one of my favorite places in the world is Maui, particularly the northern part, encompassing Lahaina, which was utterly destroyed by fire and smoke. The lyric content of this song concerns a man trying to help a young girl find her sister in the wreckage and I think I’m really on to something here. The music is inspired by Marvin Gaye’s ‘inner city blues’, but only in feel, not at all melodic. I’m sure you know all about the joys of inspiration and creation and I’m kinda riding that high now.
That high, when it comes, is one of the best things in the universe. Keep riding it!
I finished this up. Here’s the link to the video: https://youtu.be/BBGeUpHYoyE?si=wfXQpO9NxyfFDVA8
Re-reading great fiction is proving a lifeline right now. Just finished Theodore Sturgeon’s astonishing ‘More than Human’ which is something like the Catcher in the Rye crossed with the Doom Patrol. And *sycophancy alert* the novels of a certain MMS under various pen names. Finished re-listening to The Anomaly last week and it was marvellous (apart from Ken’s accent).
Sycophancy is the wrong term because it implies insincerity so that’s not right. Need more better words… point is I’m liking the books
Getting words good can be not easy.
Thank you :-)
I haven't listened to the audio of that... I have SUCH a strong sense of how Ken sounds (as you do, by the sound of it) that I couldn't bear to hear it otherwise...
I'm a bit like you with live gigs, but I think it's partly because I was a musician & for a long time only went to things where I knew somebody on the stage, so always got my name on the door. That includes everything from Wembley [Chic, Muse] to Donnington [ZZ Top, Marillion] & a lot of smaller gigs in between.
We'd just bowl up, find hospitality & have a good natter with the supposed cognoscenti until the band went on. Then we'd often nip out into a protected area to watch from, or occasionally mooch out to mingle with the great unwashed for a song or two before heading back to protective custody.
I'm aware this may make me sound like an arse, but that was how gigs were. I once spent the entirety of a Billy Ocean gig standing right at the back, chatting to a couple of St John's nurses instead of paying any attention whatsoever to the band for whom my mate was Musical Director.
However, one time I went as a regular punter to see bruce Springsteen, with a bunch of ordinary mates, not music biz people. Like you, I'm a bit bored after an hour. He was on for four and a half hours. I thought it would never end.
On the upside… I did once meet Ron Wood, walking his dog past a pub in West London we were filming in. Turns out it was his local. He had all the time in the world to just stand and chat with me and a couple of lighting guys. No rush, no airs, no graces. Lovely bloke.
Everything I see and hear about Ronnie suggests that he's just a nice bloke who's REALLY HAPPY about how his life has turned out...
I've had a couple of gig experiences like the ones you mention, friend of the band deal, and that's MUCH more of a fun time. A social event (plus a little bit of feeling like a main character for once, or main character-adjacent) rather than being forced to sit and listen to something for hours. There is no way I could get through a Springsteen gig...
I could watch McCartney for four and a half hours. The near three hour gig I saw on TV from Glasto in '22 was a true moment. His voice may not be quite as good as it was, but it's still there in the main & I did notice he didn't change a key anywhere, everything was in the original, even the famous voice-busters.
If you haven't seen it, you can get the whole thing on YouTube these days.
The cherries locally are really good this year. We are re-watching Six Feet Under and think it's really worthwhile. It held up very well over the last 20 years due to great acting and writing.
God, SIX FEET UNDER... we *loved* that show. Might give it another whirl... and we had some lovely white cherries just this week!
Cherries are my absolute favourite food.
Our yard is alive with monarch butterflies due to the milkweed we planted. it is pure joy to watch them fly about. Also, our neighbor shared a ghost story, and she was interviewed for a podcast about it. A good haunting always raises my spirits. https://snapjudgment.org/episode/spooked-teachers-pet/
Butterflies are little pieces of flying magic. They just don't seem real :-) I'll check out the podcast!
It's my burfday today so coming to terms with that😫😋
In regards to the orange orangutan, I've just binge watched in the last 2 weeks seasons 5, 6 and 7 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It is amazing how the jokes about how difficult Trump would make life, how cultish the maga republicans have become and how tyrannical he would try to make himself have manifested into truth 4yrs later!
Brightside -
Have binge watched Mayor of Kingstown and have to say bloody loved it!
Finished The Straw Men Trilogy by a writer I'm trying to promote. Think he shows some word goodness with vocabularic writingtons.
Also audio booked, whilst working, The complete works of PG Wodehouse, read by Stephen Fry. Absolutely wonderful! Plum was a genius!
Also finished the Louis Theroux memoir Gotta get Theroux this. Quite a lot of interesting stuff on Jimmy Saville, Scientology and other docos he's made.
Apologies to orangutans by the way. They are awesome! Trump is prick.
HAPPY BURFDAY!
And thank you for the PGW reminder... I LOVED those books when I was young... I really must give them another read.
Trump is a ****. True story.
Happy birthday 🥳
We have a woodchuck in our back yard, and it has decided to come out and watch us whenever we are doing work there. I put some raw peanuts out for it, and now it has a picnic while watching us plant things. Kind of a reversal of what we do - eat on the patio and watch it. Makes me smile every time.
That's fantastic :-) I *love* it when you get a sense of an animal's inner life and interests... yours has found a human zoo to come and visit!
I had the movie La Antena, from the Argentinian film maker Esteban Sapir, recommended and I'm so glad I took the time to watch it. It's pure Expressionist cinema, full of imagination and lyrical imagery, and is just constantly inventive. A real reminder that we rarely ever tap what visual storytelling can do. Loved it https://youtu.be/dMs0n0qUMUY?si=KoGk5RV-_iDWWMui
Huh, that sounds interesting. Thank you!
Well, I’m in the UK, so you pretty much covered the “something good”. It’s like when you’ve got some obscure muscle that you didn’t realise was so so tight that suddenly let’s go. Aaaaah.
We were there a couple of weeks before the election and the tension was palpable... but be good to feel you can, at least for a little while, breathe again.
Hurrah, the team that are only *fairly* useless and *slightly* corrupt won! Churchill's remark about democracy being the worst form of government apart from everything else has never rung truer. Although to be fair to Stamer, pretty much the first thing he did was kill the Rwanda programme, so points for that.
Oh, and I just finished reading Poor Things. Wonderful. I love Alisdair Gray’s writing. (Love the film too).
It's on my list/s...
I’d say, film first, then book. There’s some extra framing in the book, which adds to the film (which is very faithful to the book), but which I think is better experienced after the bizarrity of the film.
I think in general, where possible, it's better to watch the film before reading the book. It's in the nature of adaptation that the film is always going to miss some of the best stuff from the book...and if you like the film, you can go to the book and expect a fuller, rounder version of what you enjoyed in the film.
Really love this reminder that with so many things on fire, it's important not to lose sight of the good things that are not... you know... on fire. So here are a few:
We recently finished watching 'Shrinking' and I think it's in my top 10 TV shows ever
Got a bit of exciting career news
The broad beans my boyfriend guerilla planted in the front garden are coming good
My Philadelphus plant flowered for a second time
My dad called me yesterday and we had a lovely chat
OMG Shrinking was so good. So very good. I'm kinda worried that they're doing a second season, and wonder if they should have just left it as a pretty perfect limited...
Lovely to have a good chat with a parent. I miss that. But I had daily calls for 20+ years, so I can hardly complain :-)
Delighted to hear about the career news — and intrigued!