Saturday 4 July 2009

Tai-Pan

To day I discovered the play list of David of Madrid a comparatively new friend with some eighty titles although only about half play and where I thought I knew many of the titles but not the performers who are a revelation. (Mr Jones- Mike Jones, You Belong Me to Jason Wade, Billie Jean-Chris Connell, Mad World-Gary Jules known, Roscoe- Midlake, That's what lonely is for -David Wilcox, Bella Luna-Mraz and I'm Yours, You Got a Friend a live performance with Celine Dionne, Shania Twain, Gloria Estafan, Carole Kir. Needles and Pins Ramones an odd inclusions given the others selected so far, Kinda Hard-Eric Hinan, Kery Largo-Bertie Higgns, Sophia-Nerina Pallot. Hate me- Blue October. More tomorrow. I had decided to go through the list of friends to check out the changes having noted that one of the top 24 had disappeared Rejection.

I managed to get to the bank, the first step in getting my finances sorted for 2008, my old branch Fullwell which has been radically redesigned after the occasion when there was an attempted hold up just after I left although there were indications of the individual being spotted while I was there, which led to one of those what would I have done had I arrived when it happened. The reason for making the trip was that I managed to get the car started and it needed a little run to ensure the battery was charged up a little. Then went to Morrison's for Grapes, bananas, tomatoes milk, salmon fishcakes 4 for 1. Manx kippers and a bass having misread the sign for the fish which looked interesting, I have the carton of bass where I need to work out how to separate without defrosting and some lamb chops which I fancied. This evening however I did not have fish but a cheese omelette. For lunch, not feeling like soup, I had some thin slices of German smoked ham with the fat cit off with lettuce rolls for lunch, followed by a banana and custard, Grapes after the evening meal. Got oat cereal for breakfast, Half a glass of red wine with half a dozen olives evening treat.
Brian Sewell provided the Big Brother House with the food for a gourmet meal this evening and some timely chat about how to behave in polite society and then had the expected conversation with Amy about the nature of contemporary art. Given that she had time to prepare for such a question, I was disappointed.

The decision to abandon the London trip is the right one after yesterday's efforts to bring my work up to date the inclination is to fritter away the time. Last night was mainly stupefaction with vague memories of having watch the Big brother House and deciding to watch again the film of the James Clavel novel Tai-Pan which I have not read. The film is a fictional attempt to explain the back ground to the rise of Hong Kong when British merchant adventurers imported opium into China as means of paying for tea, silk and porcelain rather than silver as he Chinese then had no need for British manufactured goods. When the Chinese government took exception Britain (and France) showed their true moral nature of its Victorian era politics by going to war and to enforce the ability to turn the Chinese people into drug addicts and commenced a course of events which led to British establishment of Hong Kong and a trading, commercial and crime capital for the Far East and to the establishment of Communism. Admittedly there are other viewpoints.

The film is a fictional account of how after being evicted from China after refusing to abandon the opium trade, merchants persuaded the British Parliament and the French to go to war with the establishment of Hong Kong and its natural harbour as British controlled trading base, and the rivalry between two unscrupulous heads of trading enterprises to be recognised as the merchant, social and political leader. The film [paints one father and son rival as the baddies although the film's hero is the greater hypocrite buying and selling his Chinese concubine which are hidden away from the polite society of the money and land grabbing other exploiters of the indigenous population. The most enjoyable aspect was a sub plot in which the sexually and physically abused daughter of a missionary (father and brother implicated) apparently rescued by the hero Tai Pan becomes a high class whore to a Chinese mafia boss who helps out the Tai Pan will a loan of 1.2 million in silver bars to thwart a move from the opposition to oust him from his position. She then attempts to become the wife of the Island's commanding officer although her brother attempts to blocks this and I cannot remember how this was resolved if it was. There is also the usual sub Romeo and Juliet plot although his so marries his daughter and becomes Tai-Pan when his father dies in the arms of his latest Chinese mistress in a storm. We are meant to pleased by this development when in fact the rightful heir was the elder so on an earlier mistress who was sold off to become a third wife when he decided he wanted a younger model. As you can see it was a thoroughly enjoyable film and cheered me up no end.

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