SOMEBODY
a lyric by Alan Ewing
Chorus
And if somebody
Brought love back to you
And that somebody
Always would be true
And can somebody
Really come through
Not like somebody
Who leaves you cold and blue
Verse 1
There was a time I lived in need
When it seemed to me
I needed a hand
From someone who believed
Repeat Chorus
Verse 2
Then came a place
When it seemed to me
That I had a gift
To go out there and set others free
Repeat Chorus
President Jimmy Carter. A Prophecy
a blog by Alan Ewing
We live in an age now of mass consumerism. All spiritual values tossed aside in the madness of the Fruedian id. No longer sociologically do the ego or super-ego exist. Everything is based on "I want" and self-opinionated bluster. Money has become the god ...the golden calf. In 1979 Jimmy Carter, President of America made a heart-felt plea that still resounds to this day. It was ignored, and Reaganism/Thatcherism would come to rule the world. For some that meant standing up to the Soviet Union. For others, it meant hard poverty as the rich got richer as they protected their interests.
Carter in early parts of the speech outlines energy and consumption. Fine, Amereican domestic politics then. Though he goes on to outline not just the future of America, though also the future of humanity; Watergate and corruption; the loss of caring in society.
"Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom; and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.
Carter outlines how Americans , the leaders of humanity, has become economic in nature and is failing to see the spirituality upon which it was founded:
"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit
communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship
self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one
does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and
consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that
piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no
confidence or purpose."
The speech stands as a statement about all that was to come. The selfish greed that would appear. Maybe it is time for the centre-left to redraw itself and realise that the only way back is to take down selfishness and greed. To create a more humane and caring society, that can then be addressed to the developing nations.
Speech here ...ic.com/speeches/jimmycartercrisisofconfidence.htm
Alan Ewing
©dewyswriter 2021
Wentworth Prison (Australian TV Series), a blog by Alan Ewing
Wentworth Prison is an Australian prison drama, based on Prisoner Cell Block H, an Australia prison dram from the 1980s. It is a complete reinvention. Wentworth is the ultimate prison drama. The sheer brutality of the power struggles that go on with thin this women’s prison are harrowing as they battle for Top Dog status, and yet compelling viewing, as the correction system tethers on collapse at times. Lesbianism, drugs, knife crime are rife, as is betrayal and scheming. The prison staff meanwhile have the good characters and the bad characters. This blog is an introduction to five of the main players within this drama.
Prisoners
BEA SMITH (Danielle Cormack): The ultimate Top Dog. Begins life in Wentworth in a state of terror. Following the death of her daughter a new edge develops that turns her into the most power fun character within the whole series. Her reinvention owes more than a little to Joan Ferguson (see below).
FRANKY DOYLE (Nicole Da Silva): In a battle for Top Dog when Bea Smith arrives. Franky was a victim of childhood abuse and this has shaped her outlook upon the world.
ALLIE NOVACK: (Kate Jenkinson) The most unlikely of Top Dogs. Ally is the blonde bombshell whose survival skills have been learnt through years of drug dependency. She becomes Bea Smith’s lover.
Staff
JOAN FERGURSON (Pamela Rade): A Prison Governor who likes to wear her uniform. “The Freak” as the women call her. A voyeur, a manipulation. Game-player supreme.
WILL JACKSON(Robbie Magasiva): If you are looking for a good guy then Will is your man. Helps the girls where he can, though is very much a Ladies man.
Theme Music
Seasons 1 - 8 are currently on Box Set on the My 5 Player ... the final season (9) is due to be released over the Summer.
©dewyswriter2021
Conspiracy Theorist
a lyric by Alan Ewing
I’m a conspiracy theorist
If you get my gist
Spend my days spreading memes
If you get my drift
Don’t believe the news
Just believe in me
I’ll fill your mind
With some conspiracy
Get all my facts straight
Within my own world
Gonna give you the whole truth
The best you’ve heard
I have worked it all out
What they’re gonna do
I’ll tell you right now
Then it’s up to you
©dewyswriter2021
This British film noir has an usual connection to Marilyn Monroe. Released in 1953, the same year as MM’s “Niagara”, it was released in the UK as “Marilyn”, while in the USA as “Roadhouse Girl”. The British made film is not about Marilyn Monroe in any way, though it does, with its main character, played by British actress, Sandra Dorne, bear a sticking resemblance to the character of Rose Loomis, in “Niagara”.
This well received film veers around themes of narcissism. The lead character is Marilyn Saunders, who lives in a make-believe world of fantasy where all is perfect. When reality intrudes upon this, then whoever intrudes upon her dream will pay a heavy price. She is unhappily married at the start of the film. A roaming mechanic comes to work for her husband and soon she is involved with him. This leads to the accidental death of her husband. She has fed her dreams to the mechanic and quickly drops him as she finds another stepping stone to her perfect life in the form of a playboy who is passing through.
The film is well worth checking out. I should say that the ending has not been given away here. Its themes are absolutely relevant to the world that we find ourselves in today. An age where narcissism is encouraged through social media.
"Charlie Says", a film drama about The Manson Women
I have already written about the horrific murder of Sharon Tate and her friends on 9th August 1969 in a previous blog. Suffice to say that the most harrowing moment within "Charlie Says", is when a re-enactment of eight-month pregnant Sharon, shows her sobbing and pleading, after her group of friends have been murdered before her, to be allowed to live to have her baby before the knives close in upon her. It remains as one of the most heinous acts of brutal crime in history. Even a dramatic reconstruction has the power to reduce any viewer to tears of grief and despair about human nature at its worst.
Charles Manson was a shrewd manipulator. A known felon in many states who was allowed to roam by the authorities, finally setting up a cult, "The Family", based on a mixture of paganism, hedonism, Judaeo-Christian misinterpretation, and a strange listening of The Beatles White album. He viewed himself as a prophet. His ranting about white supremacy, and his visions of his followers turning into elves who sprout wings are documented in the film, together with his deluded sense of musical genius, fed by his friendships in the rock circles of the late 1960s. Manson's vision would soon turn into guns and knives.
The film in question here concerns the story of The Manson Women, Lulu, Katie and Sadie, who together with Ted Watson committed atrocity under Manson's brainwash. And the work done by Karlene Faith, Ph.D with them. The film turns though on the story of the women. Each renamed by Manson from their original names as given by their parents. Faith carries out therapy on these women in jail, where they are each still under cult brainwash, and endlessly quote Manson, aka "Charlie Says". Deep questions arise on whether or not these women are victims.
By the conclusion of Karleen Faith's psychological work all three have had to realise their true identities and the absolute horror of their actions. Manson is renounced as, in Faith's words, she has opened them up to their true life sentences, in which they will be tormented every day by the actions that they committed.
"Charlies Says" can current be viewed on the All4 Player. Link at https://www.channel4.com/programmes/charlie-says
Alan Ewing
Got make this mine
Have to take my time
Rebuild from inside of me
Moving on is all I see
No more dealing with psychodrama
When all turns into a panorama
I just need to set myself free
In the end I just gotta be me
©Ewing/Karlsson
