Month: March 2025

Review: Harp and a monkey

~ anfieldgirl ~ Leave a comment

Thornton Hough Village Club and Bar, 28 March 2025

As a photographer and scrapbooker my whole life is documented to some degree. I love taking photographs that tell stories, that mark a moment in my life. My greatest joy is doing that at a gig. I have thousands of photographs that take me back to a song or a moment in a gig, where I feel like I captured the essence of the performer, to be held on file forever, to allow me to instantly recall the feeling.

Every now and then I go to a gig where my camera is not enough. Where no matter how hard I try I cannot capture that essence. Last night’s gig at Thornton Hough Village Club & Bar by Harp and a monkey was one of those gigs. And it’s not the first time! Every time we see this band I am transfixed, by the stories, by the history, by the sheer love for their craft that oozes from the stage. Mostly I am captivated by Martin Purdy and his obvious joy in performing, a joy that just radiates out into the audience.

I can hardly shift my attention to my camera because I might miss something, some nuance of a story I haven’t heard before, a phrase I’ve not noticed before. And so the total sum of my photographs from last night is five 😆 But what an experience.

The setlist was as varied as their back catalogue but highlights for me were Pilgrim’s Cross, The Molecatcher and Serenade For A Winters Day. Also Tupperware and Tinfoil which is regularly played and sung along to in our car 🥰

Same time next year guys?

“Wherever you go there’s footprints upon the snow” ❤️

Review: Black Bag – 26 March 2025

~ anfieldgirl ~ Leave a comment

Second visit of the week to the cinema and I’m really not sure what I made of this film. It is beautifully shot and large portions of the film look like a kind of 1960’s spy homage heavy with sepia tones and dark shadows.

The title refers to both secrets being kept and also to the secrets in a marriage. This relationship, which is essentially the central theme of the film, relies on both applications of the phrase. George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) are in turn portrayed in a suspicious light and I was left wondering for quite some time who to trust. Or even if they trusted each other.

The complicated friend/colleague relationships are exploited by all concerned and the mingling of personal and business worlds are visually separated by the aforementioned sepia tones of their home lives and the stark modern buildings of their work settings.

There was definitely an element of satire on show, albeit very gentle. If you weren’t paying attention it would have been easy to take the whole thing at face value but there was definitely some gentle ribbing of the whole spy genre going on here, however poker faced the cast played it. It wasn’t heavy enough to be comedy, but it was light enough to not take the whole thing too seriously.

I’m not a fan of Bond or the spy genre generally but this was interesting, more personal relationships than I expected and less gadgets/tech than a Bond film I think but it was enjoyable.

6 out of 10 from me. 7 for Mr G.

Review: Snow White – 24 March 2025

~ anfieldgirl ~ 1 Comment

Snow White is a classic. A fairy tale from our childhood. Disney has obviously already had a turn at the story – we all remember the animation, cutesy woodland animals, terrifying Queen, ultimately triumphant heroine. So fast forward to 2025 and Disney has returned to the beloved tale only this time with a twist. I was not expecting the overtly political message that seemed to be woven through the fabric of the story telling. Maybe good vs evil always plays out like this and the current state of the world is making me read more into the nuanced and subtle message. Maybe not.

On the surface Disney hasn’t tampered with the story at all, beloved princess is orphaned and terrorised by a wicked step mother. She rebels, is banished, finds the dwarves, is tricked by the Wicked Queen, gets kissed by a stranger then takes back her throne. But along the way we have her social enlightenment about how her people are being mistreated, how life is not all apples and baking, how her actions (and inactions) have consequences, how finding your tribe and laying your life down for them is the most noble thing a person can do. And ultimately how good triumphs over evil when the people come together and stand up to injustice. This finely woven sub story is beautiful and very timely.

Strong 7 out of 10 from me.

6 out of 10 from Mr G.

Picture of feet on recliner chairs at cinema

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