A Content Consumer Recommends....

Music

Heavy is the Head by Stormzy: Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr (according to Wikipedia) releases a new album and it's at times introspective and triumphant. I'm not sure I fully get grime music, but I buy into Stormzy as a trusted guide in unfamiliar territory. I bought into Gang Signs & Prayer and I buy into this. 

Everyday Life by Coldplay: I like Coldplay and I've defended the band against music fans who seem to think that war criminals deserve a less vicious critique. But this is thin stuff. It's them trying several musical hats on for size and finding out that most of them fit badly. The song Church is jingly-jangly upbeat, though. 

Thanks for the Dance by Leonard Cohen: A posthumous album and it's all the usual poetic, sardonic, melancholy and downbeat humorous stuff that will delight Cohen fans. Happens to the Heart and the Night of Santiago are lovely tracks.

Film

The Irishman: Martin Scorsese makes a sometimes engaging, often subdued and always over-long gangster movie about the delivery-driver-turned-Mob-enforcer who may or may not have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino are on fine form and the film looks utterly beautiful and is carefully crafted. But I'm not sure there's enough actual content, narrative development, character engagement or drama for its 210-minutes of running time

6 Underground: Netflix goes all action with a cast including Ryan Reynolds, Melanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia Rulfo and Peter Beale from EastEnders (who's doing very well for himself since leaving Albert Square). Michael Bay directs and there's much to like in the set pieces, stunts and serious-meets-comedy script in what could be the streaming service's bid to create a franchise to rival the Fast and the Furious. But not as good.

Angel Has Fallen: Gerard Butler revises his role as crack agent, presidential bodyguard and all-round action hero good guy Mike Banning. This outing, however, he's on the run after being set up for trying to assassinate Morgan Freeman. OK, March of the Penguins was awful but Morgan was also in Seven and Shawshank Redemption. Come on, Mike! The film proves the law of diminishing returns on sequels to be correct.  

Scrooged: Modern-day retelling of A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray as a truly vile TV executive who learns the error of his ways thanks to four visiting ghosts. I have seen this film many time and it remains the second best celluloid version of the Charles Dickens book, behind The Muppet Christmas Carol. But that is high praise indeed. The latter movie nearly outshines The Godfather in my book.

TV

Giri/Haji: Eight episodes of crazed violence and unexpected joy from screenwriter Joe Barton. It's basically a gangster series about the Yakuza set in both Tokyo and London and it features some amazing performances, notably from Takehiro Hira as a conflicted detective who finds himself overseas trying to track down his criminal brother (Yosuke Kubozuka). It's engaging, surprising and a genuine pleasure to watch as the story unfolds over eight episodes. It should win some awards. 

The Thick of It: I am rewatching this from the start as an antidote to the recent General Election result. It remains fucking excellent.

Grading News...

I attended the annual grading at my new BJJ school and I got a couple more stripes on my blue belt to make me a three-stripe blue belt. I'm pretty pleased with this. I feel like I've made genuine progress this year: I now train in no-gi; I did OK when I competed in both gi and no-gi in the summer; and I'm certainly better than I was 12 months ago. 

The school also encourages students to test themselves in competition, which means quite a lot of my fellow grapplers have that battle-hardened edge. This is good because it keeps everyone sharp and on their mettle when we are rolling in class.

Four of my friends also got promoted from white to blue and pretty much everyone else got additional stripes for their endeavours. The two main teachers at the school also got their black belts, which was a great moment. 

When I left London Fight Factory at the end of last year, I worried I wouldn't find a place where I felt as comfortable and welcome. It really was like saying goodbye to a family. So I feel blessed to have found One Jiu-Jitsu in Guildford. They've made me welcome, worked with my skill limitations and helped a 50-year-old have the confidence to compete again. 

I'm aiming to move up a gear next year in terms of training and, with a competition already entered in February, I have a good reason to up my game. Let's go!