“Far from crazy pavements – the taste of silver spoons. A clinical arrangement on a dirty afternoon”

from ‘Beasley Street’ by John Cooper Clarke.

In short, I am not here seeking anything more than an outlet for my inane ramblings on a subject that not so much concerns my life but more enhances my mundane downtime in life. My posts here will almost exclusively associate with the world of film – past, present and, oh help us, the space of time beyond that.

I am not an expert on movies. I work as an archaeologist. From a young age though, like many people the world over, I have been fascinated by movies and have fixated my eyes on various tele-visual screens presenting such art forms. I have evolved my tastes over time of course and have grown passionate about what I perceive to be great works. I still strive to watch and experience as many variant examples of cinematic productions as I can, whether it be the latest Pixar offering or a long lost Turkish film about suppression in the Gursel years. Understand though that I have not seen every single production committed to celluloid and I have limited knowledge of many genres and many background stories to the films I have watched. I will not purport to know more than I actually do…

…but I am critical. And sometimes I can be unequivocally damning. But this is all a load of bollox really so don’t take it too seriously. Enjoy movies, if that is at all possible, and more specifically, allow them to stimulate your mind and soul. Even better, allow them to expand your intellect and knowledge.

Grá i bhfad,
JJ McDermott (blog administrator)

Postscript: Since beginning this blog in December 2016, guest bloggers Alan Matthews, Robin Stevens, Annabelle Davis and Shzan Plandowski have become regular contributors. Their output has gone far beyond my expectations and I am terribly grateful for that. Alan is a self-professed movie fanatic based in Scotland and he enjoys lending me his encyclopedic knowledge of action/adventure films, old and new. He has obtained a rare copy of movie rules, which he has been slowly revealing rule-by-rule in occasional and blisteringly witty blog posts here. Robin is another passionate voice when it comes to contemporary and classic film. He is a regular cinema-goer and likely keeps all the arthouse cinemas in Perth and Fremantle single-handedly in business! His posts have ranged in subject matter from Casablanca to a limited Bangladeshi release called Haalda. Annabelle is a horror movie fanatic and has offered us reviews on films such as The Shining, The Exorcist and the occasional Michael Fassbender vehicle! Shzan, having worked in documentary filmmaking for a while, loves to explore the meaning behind the technical aspects of cinema – we look forward to more of her insights in the future.

Long may their wide perspectives on film continue.