Night Out

Everyone knew from the moment Lloyd stuffed his face with glory at Nandos- this birthday was a biggie. To prove he enjoyed the meal more than others he paid the service charge! Khan smothered his gob with an extra portion of chips and the 'gym boys' i.e phil josh and paul stuck to protein based meals. Khan had the hottest meal in the whole damn house, in fact, it was so hot he left the restaurant on a few occasions (pretending he had phone calls) in order to cool off.

Then came the arm wrestling competition. The first contenders were obviously going to be the two men who thought they knew it all, aka the brickshithouses Josh and Lloyd. With vigour, a damp patch emerged from Josh's arm pit as he tackled Lloyd. Josh won basically like that. Gigg wanted a bit of the action, but was keeping quiet at this point sussing out who he should go for. As Lloyd lost, he was easy pickings. Gigg only beat Lloyd aswell. !!!

While all this was going on, there was another contest brewing. Emily looked at me with daggers and I returned with an expression Gigg would call an 'arrogant smile'. She knew, and I knew what was next. I raised my voice in front of everyone and said to her  'do ya wanna challenge mey?'. I knew she did, I was just hoping by turning this into a spectacle, my showmanship would make her loose her concentration. She knew my game. She sussed me out. She won the contest and her face had so much glory as my arm was pushed to the deck. While no one was watching she came up to me and whispered 'Don't ever fuck with me again Matt or I will end you'. I nervously laughed but was bricking it.

Randy Newman and Pixar

When I think of Pixar, I think of toys coming to life, monsters, talking cars, a rat  that has a way for cooking (not gordon ramsay), ripped off superheroes from age old comic books and yes… you guessed it Randy Newman. Afterall, if Pixar have not employed Newman as their composer, chances are you are listening to his cousin Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) or the remarkable composer Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Up – and of course he also wrote the music for the Medal of Honor video games and Lost…and Star Trek).  

You might be wondering why I am not writing this article about Giacchino. I could, but there is something different about Newman’s writing that puts him a cut above the rest. It is only when you listen to his soundtracks in isolation, without the screenplay, is it possible to recognise the brilliance that is at play in scores such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc and A Bugs Life. Try watching the intro scene to Toy Story in mute. You will soon come to understand the contribution that Newman has made to these films.

And most consider Randy Newman as a fat, ageing American bloke who ‘just sings about Jesus and drinks wine all day’ (line taken from his song entitled Sail Away). He had a modest solo career as a singer/songwriter writing hits such as ‘Short People’ and ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’. Since then he has become known as a film composer, writing music for ‘Meet the Parents’, ‘The Princess and the Frog’and ‘Awakenings’. But what is it about his music that draws us into the picture? He seems to have the nack of arousing a nostalgic feeling in everyone from the age of five to eighty five. How can someone watch this scene : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0j1EHF8Y0 without producing watery eyes? Newman can create songs that are anthems for feeling good. Take this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dixXub_dmA&feature=related , it makes you feel that the world isn’t so bad after all – there is love, loyalty and friendship here on planet earth. This is also true in Newman’s title song from Toy Story 3; ‘We Belong Together’.  America, a nation that is hated throughout the world for political reasons can now rely on Disney to distribute films that will hopefully portray them in a better light. This reminds me of the Randy Newman song ‘Political Science’- a satirical account of America wanting to take over the world because of their poor relations throughout the world. He sings the line ‘even our old friends put us down’ – well Randy as a British Citizen may I say I won’t put you down, Pixar or Disney in these remarkable animations that we are treated to annually.