MARCH IS FOR MUSIC

I have been inspired to write this month on the subject of music.

There are a number of reasons for this;
1) I've just got an MP3 player
2) I've just got tickets for the V festival
3) I've just found Paul's Blog.

But before I start I'd like to give my thoughts on the BAFTAs (see Pauls blog for this too).

I caught about half an hour's worth of the BAFTA last Sunday and quite frankly that was enough. I used to lap these things up like the celebrity loving queen that I was but nowadays they can quite happily pass me by. I just can't understand why some films (Walk the Line for example) print in big letters at the top of their posters "NOMINATED FOR 5 BAFTAS" as though we should give a damn when we don't. For an awards ceremony on TV the BAFTAs this year did unusually poorly. Why is this? Because we don't care.

And yet I found myself incensed by Paul's post on the subject. I just about disagree with everything he says. The peacemaker in me wants to say "oh well, people are different. Horses for courses etc." and the rest of me wants to shout and scream. So I've reached a compromise.

Why shouldn't the BAFTAs be about promoting what we British do well? Fine acting. Excellent, gritty, working class and classical drama. Wit (as represented by Stephen Fry himself). Leave pointless "movies" to the Americans. Special effects need not be dominant here in the home of Shakespeare, of Pinter, of Tolkein. And yet we can appreciate those films like Brokeback Mountain which, despite being so typically American, are fine examples of Films - more than that, of art.