Films of 2014

As 2014 draws to a close, here's my verdict on the films I saw at the cinema during the year, in descending order of enjoyment:

The Grand Budapest Hotel  - a hilarious performance from Ralph Fiennes made this one of the most enjoyable films I've ever seen at the cinema.

Locke - proving that you don't need flashy explosions or CGI to tell a story, this film with Tom Hardy is gripping from start to finish, which is particularly impressive, since most of the time all we see is him driving his car while talking on the phone.

Edge of Tomorrow - intelligent sci-fi which benefits from a good script and a good performance (rather than his usual star turn) from Tom Cruise. Nice also to see a strong female character (Emily Blunt)

The Imitation Game - a beautiful recreation of the period, and strong performances, but I was left unmoved.

The Equalizer - the usual strong performance from Denzel Washington is frittered away in a film that uses nearly half its runtime for the setup and offers excessive gore as (meagre) compensation.

Godzilla - another film that spends way too much of its running time on the set up (it's a good hour before we see Godzilla) and gives us characterisation-by-numbers. Yes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is cute, if you like that sort of thing and no, he doesn't get his kit off.

Non-Stop - once again, Liam Neeson plays a troubled hard man. The film insults our intelligence by showing us the big clue not once, but three times. Hopefully, Julianne Moore got a shedload of dosh to be in this turkey.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - Chris Pine is as wooden as his name suggests, Keira Knightley does her best and Kenneth Branagh fails hard in his portrayal of a gangster. Kevin Costner collects a pay cheque.

3 Days To Kill - the absolute stinker of the year by a country mile. What could have been either an action thriller, a comedy thriller or a family drama is completely sunk by being a tepid blend of all three.  Kevin Costner collects a pay cheque.

"Homewrecker"

The title of this post is the one-word message I received a while back when I had a profile on DaddyHunt. It came from a photoless profile of a man in Fort Worth, Texas. Having had no contact with this man before, I was surprised to receive such an accusatory message. I responded, suggesting that his message had been intended for someone else. The reply came back that it was for me, because on my profile I state that I’m willing to hook up with partnered men. Although it was probably an exercise in futility, I wrote back and drew his attention to that sentence as it appeared on my profile “Willing to hook up with partnered men, as long as you’re not breaking the rules of your relationship”.

To me, the final part of that sentence makes all the difference in the world. When two (or more) people are in a relationship, they get to make the rules and those rules can include an element of sexual non-exclusivity. If some guy in a relationship is free to hook up with me, and I want to hook up with him, what’s the harm and furthermore, who else’s business is it?

Gay men, have quite varied opinions on sexual exclusivity in relationships. Many, like me think sexual exclusivity isn’t that important and/or have trouble delivering it, so don’t promise it. As RuPaul once said “Don’t let your mouth write cheques that your ass can’t cash”. Others are very much in favour of sexual exclusivity. All to the good, if that’s what you agree with your partner(s). Lots of people say that feelings of jealousy would quickly derail any open relationship for them, so closed is the way to go. Of course, sexual non-exclusivity is a continuum ranging from the occasional three-way or hookup when you’re out of town to, well, as much as you can handle.

What I find very surprising, however, is the vehemence with which some gay men condemn open relationships. It’s very common to see on dating profiles that men aren’t willing to hook up with partnered men (which is perfectly reasonable). What’s not so reasonable is the condemnation of someone’s open relationship – the idea that looking for sex outside the relationship means the relationship is superficial or in trouble and that those involved should work more on their relationship rather than seeking outside sex. Maybe those condemning open relationships should spend that energy working on their own (presumably-closed) relationship.

My most successful relationship was open. Neither of us believed sexual exclusivity was any kind of ideal, and so didn’t think it was worth striving for. Why waste energy like that? The arrangement worked out well for us – we were both into some sex that the other wasn’t, so we got to have that sex with other people and still have sex, intimacy and love with each other. Our relationship only ended because one of us died. (Aside: it’s a weird cultural idea that relationships that end with death are a success and those which end any other way are a failure – but that’s another blog post.)

There was a time when people would say that the only kind of relationship that was authentic was that between a man and a woman. Now, thankfully, more and more people are realising that relationships can encompass all kinds of sexualities and genders – love is what counts. It’s rather disappointing that some gay men haven’t realised that yet.

Cher, Woman's World and the Daily Fail

Cher's new video for her single "Woman's World" was launched exclusively on the Mail Online website, the electronic version of the Daily Mail.

I, along with many other gay men, have been a huge fan of Cher since the late 80s. Who can forget the infamous video (and leather outfit) from the video for "If I Could Turn Back Time", her Oscar-winning performance in "Moonstruck" or the phenomenon that was "Believe", her very successful foray into dance music?

All this time, Cher has been a great supporter for both gay rights and women's rights, as seen in this hilarious (and serious) advert for women's reproductive rights with Kathy Griffin.

This makes it all the more surprising her new video appeared on the Mail Online's website.

For an example of the Mail Online's attitude to gay people and their relationships, Jan Moir's article published after Stephen Gately's sudden death is a pretty shocking example.

A poor young man is barely cold, his partner (Andrew Cowles) and his family are in grief, and the knife goes in - heartless speculation about the cause of death, and the snide implication that he (or his gayness) were somehow at fault.

Later comes the baffling phrase "Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships". This seems to be saying that gay people can't be happy in relationships, and the existence of civil partnerships just pretends otherwise. Of course, sane people know that both straight and gay relationships can be happy or unhappy and quite a lot of them end because of the death of one of the parties involved (as did my own, but that's a blog post for later).

To use the death of a young man to tarnish the relationships of thousands of people is just vile. The British people certainly thought so, because this odious article generated 22,000 complaints in a single weekend to the Press Complaints Commission, more than they had received in the previous 5 years.

The Mail's record on sexism is no better. If you check out the pictures on the right hand side of each article (known to Brits as the "sidebar of shame") you'll quickly learn that while men are reported on for their achievements, women are only reported on for either losing or gaining a large amount of weight (sometimes the subject of such an article will be approvingly described as "celebrating her curves"), for being pregnant ("baby bump" is a favoured term on the site) or for going out in public after a breakup.

The Mail Online is also pretty well-known for its hypocrisy - it laments the sexualisation of young people yet it sees fit to describe children of celebrities with words such as "leggy".

While I was delighted to see Cher's new video, I sent her a tweet expressing concern that it had premiered on such a homophobic and anti-women website and I was very pleased to receive a response.

The purpose of this blog post isn't to bash Cher. It seemed from her response to my tweet she wasn't aware of the nature of the Mail Online website, and had she known more about it, she may have chosen to place her new video elsewhere. I hope that next time, that's what she does.

PS I'm of course loathe to link to the Mail Online, but felt it necessary here to provide an example.

444 cups and the truth - 1 year with the Jura Impressa J9 TFT superautomatic coffee machine

I love coffee and I love gadgets. I first heard of Jura superautomatic (bean-to-cup) coffee machines about 10 years ago, when I saw an Impressa F90 demoed in Selfridges. I liked the concept of filling a machine with beans and water and getting coffee at the push of a button, but the price put me off. I was worried that I wouldn't get my money's worth out of it. This is exactly what happened with the Philips Senseo machine and the Nespresso machine which followed. The Senseo machine languishes in a cupboard while the Nespresso machine has been freecycled.

Then, last July, I turned 40. I thought I'd mark the occasion with a new toy. Given that a motorbike or convertible might be considered unseemly at such an age, I wondered if now might be the time to bite the bullet and get a Jura machine.

I'd done some research (there are loads of YouTube videos about coffee machines of all kinds), so I was familiar with the current range. One trip to the Jura concession at Harrods and just over £1,500 later, I ended up getting the Jura Impressa J9 TFT. The TFT refers to the LCD display on the machine which provides a clear display of information and prompts. This machine is what's known as a one-touch machine; with the press of one button, the machine froths milk and then adds coffee without further intervention from the user - you don't even have to move the cup.

A benefit of Jura machines is customisability. For each drink the machine can make (espresso, coffee, cappuccino and latte macchiato) you can program the amount of coffee the machine grinds and the amount of water used to brew the coffee. For milk drinks, you can specify the length of time the machine steams milk for. Once you've done this, it is literally a case of putting a cup under the spout, connecting the milk hose to the milk frother and pushing a button. Every time, you get the same excellent result - the milk froth produced by this machine is absolutely outstanding - really fine, dense foam instead of the soapy, large-bubbled froth other machines produce.

The convenience of this machine plus the quality and consistency of the drinks produced is the upside.

The downside is that this machine, in common with all superautomatic coffee machines, needs a lot of regular maintenance. Every day, you have to slide out the drip tray and the used grounds container, dump the coffee grounds and rinse everything out to remove any coffee grounds and coffee oils. That's no more than a two-minute job. The machine has a sensor in the drip tray so that if it gets too full, the machine alerts you with a message on the screen - there's no risk of making another drink and flooding your kitchen counter.

If you're making milk-based drinks, you also have to clean the milk frother every day with a special cleaning solution which is available from Jura for £20 for a litre. The TFT display gives you full instructions (as it does for all maintenance tasks); you make up a cleaning solution of 200ml water and 15ml cleaning solution, put the milk hose in it and run a milk-cleaning program. The cleaning solution is drawn through the machine which removes any milk residue and then clean water is drawn through to rinse it.

Cleaning the milk frother in this way is essential. If you don't, the machine punishes you with tepid, unfrothed milk. Having used the machine for a year, I've found that the best approach is to clean the milk frother first thing in the morning, before making the first drink of the day. It only takes a few minutes and it beats the disappointment of a flat cappuccino.

The machine also needs to be cleaned regulary - in the year I've had the machine, I've been prompted to run the cleaning cycle 5 times. The cycle is completely automatic - you just put in a cleaning tablet (again, from Jura - £12.50 for six) and the machine churns and sloshes for twenty minutes and then you're back in business.

The other supplies this machine needs are water filters - in one year I've used 6 of them. Again, these are available from Jura at about £13 each. Although Jura's marketing materials all state that if you use water filters there is no need to ever descale the machine, I was advised by a Jura representative that the machine should still be descaled once per year. This again is automatic and requires descaling tablets from Jura (£16.95 for 3 doses).

So, over the course, of the year, owning this machine has cost me about £130 in running costs (milk cleaning solution, water filters and cleaning tablets) before factoring in the cost of the milk and coffee used. This figure slightly understates the annual costs, because you get one free water filter and two cleaning tablets with the machine. Jura quote that a milk-based drink costs about 20p to take with this machine, which is way less than you'd pay in a coffee shop, but given the cost of the machine, it's a long time before you'd be in profit.

For me, the upside of quality milk-based coffee drinks outweighs the hassle and cost of the maintenance this machine requires. In fact, I'd say that after having this machine a few months, I liked it, but now after a year, I love it. If you're considering a superautomatic coffee machine, check out the J9 TFT, but keep in mind it's the Mercedes of home coffee machines, and just like a Mercedes, it needs a lot of maintenance to keep it running properly.

Quick Play Review: HP Touchpad

The HP Touchpad launched in the UK today so I went Carphone Warehouse and PC World to have a quick play.

From the hardware point of view, the device is very nice, if little plasticky. Much has been made of the fact that this tablet isn't as thin as the iPad 2. However, it isn't massively thicker and with its rounded corners it's quite pleasant to hold. As with the iPad 2, the screen is in a 4:3 ratio which works fine for most things, but is less than ideal for video playback. The screen is also very reflective.

The software was pretty intuitive. On the main screen you have a row of application icons at the bottom and at the top there is the Just Type box which lets you search both the device and the Internet by just typing. Pretty neat. In between these two items, cards are displayed (minimised windows) showing the currently running applications. If you flick one of them to the top of the screen, that closes the application. Windows from the same application, for example the browser, are displayed in this view stacked on top of each other which is a pretty elegant way of doing it.

The browser is pretty good. At Carphone Warehouse, access was blocked to the Guardian's website, so I was only able to try the BBC News website. This rendered very quickly and accurately and the device was very responsive to scrolling and zooming, but I did manage to crash the browser, ending up with with the busy animation which I was unable to get rid of without closing the browser window. At PC World, where the restrictions on the network weren't quite so Draconian, I was able to access the Guardian website and also CNET UK's video page, where thanks to Flash compatibility, I was able to see Flora Graham work her magic.

Based on a very brief couple of plays, the HP Touchpad is a pretty nice device. With WebOS being the third player in the tablet market after Android and iOS (the less said about the RIM Playbook, the better) it will be interesting to see whether a current lack of apps is a dealbreaker for potential customers. The other downside, shared with the tablets, is the price. The 16 gig version is £400 with 32 gig version at £479. For me, that's too expensive. Three years ago, I paid about £300 for a netbook, and that's the sort of price I want to pay for supplementary device to access the internet, update my social networks and play Angry Birds.

Brief Review: BubbleDS for Android

Way back in 2008, I replaced my CD player with a Linn Majik DS music streamer. The DS connects to your router and music is streamed to it from your computer or network attached storage. Then all you need is a UPnP compatible control point to select the tracks you want to play.

Having auditioned the Majik DS against the Majik CD player, at a similar price point in Linn's range, it was clear the DS was sonically superior. For Windows PCs, the initial control point software supplied by Linn was called LinnGUI. Although it made it possible to browse the music collection on my NAS drive and select tracks to play, it was extremely basic. Once the music was playing, all was well, especially the sound quality, but the software had none of the polish you would expect the product at this price point. Indeed, its functionality fell short of Windows Media player. For example, after adding a track to a playlist, there was no way to use that track as the basis of an artist or album search.

A while later, Linn released much-improved software to control a Linn DS called KinskyDesktop. I was using KinskyDesktop on a netbook, which was less than ideal for this purpose - it's surprisingly inconvenient to pick up a netbook and fiddle about with it just to get some music to play even if it's always switched on and ready to go.

What I really wanted to control the Linn DS was a small handheld device. Once I got an Android smartphone, I waited to see if anyone would develop a control point application for a Linn DS. I was therefore very pleased to see that Bubble has developed BubbleDS for Android 2.1 and above. This app is priced at about £9 and can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace.

Once you've switched on wi-fi on your phone, you run BubbleDS. The first thing it does is search your Linn DS on the network and then you're presented with a simple screen with four tabs along the top, namely Now Playing, Playlist, Radio and Library.

The Library tab lets you browse the contents of your music server (in my case, a NAS drive running TwonkyMedia Server). You can search by album, all tracks, artist, folder or genre. A long press on an album, an artist name or an individual track brings up the usual Android contextual menu with options to play straightaway or add it to the playlist to play later. The Radio tab lets you play various radio Internet stations which isn't something I ever do.

Using the Playlist tab, you can see the tracks that have been selected to be played. A long press give you the option to clear the entire playlist, remove an individual track, find the album to which an individual track belongs (which the Linn supplied software is incapable of doing), or find all the albums by the artist of the selected track. Unsurprisingly, the Now Playing tab lets you see the current track being played and give you controls to play/pause and skip forwards and backwards through the playlist.

In use, the software itself is effective, stable and intuitive and a smartphone (or other similarly sized device) is an ideal way to control this kind of music system. With BubbleDS, Bubble have created a vastly superior alternative to Linn's KinskyDesktop software at a reasonable price. I think Linn could do a lot worse than supply a Linn-branded Android device (perhaps a small tablet) preloaded with BubbleDS with every Linn DS streamer that they ship.

Beauty and the Beast

Last night, I watched episode of the Channel 4 documentary Beauty and the Beast: the Ugly Face of Prejudice. In this episode, Sarah, a 50-year old cosmetic surgery aficionado met Susan, who had undergone 60 facial reconstruction procedures after developing cancer at four months of age.

The format of the program involved the two women spending a few days to explore their attitudes to appearance and more specifically changing appearance using cosmetic surgery and other techniques.

So, Sarah persuaded Susan to try facial exfoliation and take part in a photo shoot and Susan tried to show Sarah how she doesn't let facial disfigurement stand in the way of enjoying life. Susan also tried to give Sarah an insight into what it was like to walk around with a face that differs from accepted norms.

Let me start by saying when it comes to people's bodies, I'm a libertarian. People own their bodies and it's up to them to decide what to do with them, including extreme sports, tatooing, cosmetic surgery, BDSM or whatever else people want to do. I'm happy to admit that a number of years ago I did consider cosmetic surgery myself. Unfortunately, despite claiming to be an enthusiastic advocate for cosmetic surgery, Sarah didn't do a very good job.

She made the mistake of thinking that because having other people approve of her appearance is very important to her, everyone else must feel the same way. This led to a very uncomfortable discussion between the two women where Sarah expressed disbelief that Susan was happy with her appearance and basically didn't believe Susan, when Susan said she didn't want to have any more surgery.

While Sarah and Susan were walking along a busy shopping street, Sarah noticed that sometimes people would look at Susan and point and nudge their companions, but then stamped on this green shoot of insight by saying that she'd was glad she looked as she did, and not like Susan. There was no acknowledgement of how hurtful intrusive comments and staring must be. To be fair to Sarah, she did compliment Susan on her intelligence in this part of the show, but it seemed that in Sarah's mind, intelligence is a consolation prize for not being pretty.

Also, Sarah came across as particularly shallow and insecure. At the photo shoot, a comment from Susan that Sarah use a different persona when she was doing a photo shoot was interpreted as being called "a bad person" and led to a near meltdown.

Later, Sarah had to work with a make-up artist to make her look her age. She was very freaked out about this, and even more so once the results of the make-up artist's handiwork were revealed.

What was very illuminating about Sarah's attitude to looks was a trip to a pub singing contest. Partly as a result of all the speech therapy she had following reconstructive surgery, Susan had an excellent singing voice which she demonstrated with a fine rendition of Ain't Misbehavin'. It seemed to me that the look of amazement on Sarah's face when Susan sang was because she genuinely believed that someone who in her terms didn't look good couldn't be good at anything.

In fact, the main lesson of the show was Susan was content with the way she looked and spent her time and energy pursuing activities she enjoyed while Sarah, who much more closely fitted society's norms of what a woman should look like, was totally consumed and obsessed by her looks to the point that really, she wasn't having any fun at all.

I was really hoping that there would be some input from Cindy Jackson. Ever since she's been in the public eye for her own extreme makeover, Ms Jackson has been the go-to woman whenever the topic of cosmetic surgery comes up. She took part in number of years ago in a discussion programme chaired by Joan Bakewell in which she very successfully challenged the prejudices and preconceptions of the panel members about her surgery. It appeared the panel made the mistake of thinking she was pretty, blonde and stupid. She wiped the floor with them. I think a discussion between her and the equally intelligent Susan would have made for very interesting TV.