On reading voices and seeing the truth behind and between the lines

25 September

What sort of voice do you hear as you read I wonder? For me it depends on if I have watched any sort of dramatization of a book. Clancy’s Jack Ryan was always Harrison Ford’s voice in my head; Alan Banks, as played by Stephen Tompkinson isn’t actually how I hear his voice. In the books Banks is from Peterborough, so why get a man from the North to play him. Ian Rankin refuses to watch or listen to any of his Rebus shows on telly. He claims that he doesn’t want any influence from the show and actors to colour his mind and effect his writing. Actually, I can see what he means and I don’t blame him one bit.

Even now as I read a Rebus book its Ken Stott I here in my head, so the dramatizations can affect some people. Val McDermid’s Tony Hill however, doesn’t come through as Robson Green in my mind, strange that perhaps. Maybe it’s because there have been a lot fewer of those shows that I have seen. It’s been eight years since the last one was released and anyway, those shows, like the books, didn’t grab my attention so much as the others I’ve mentioned here.

Casting director of films and TV shows do have a difficult job though. After all, each of us have our own views on who would be good for any part in a movie. A recent read for me is The Hunger Games. President Snow is really nasty sadistic man, but I didn’t see Donald Sutherland playing the part as I read. I saw Snow as being medium sort of man all round, not the tall, slim, elegant man that is Sutherland. And yet Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy is bang on for me.

Oh how the mind wonders; Kile like me is a HP fan and last night we watched the last of the eight films, again. And here I was typing away and I came to mind about the end of the Battle for Hogwarts. Harry now has the alder wand which he won of Tom Riddle. But should Harry really have it. Yes, he disarmed Draco in the manor house, but Hermione and Ron come along and disarm Draco again, along with two of his friends. So who should really have the much sort after wand? Of course, filmmakers are different writers aren’t they, indeed they have to be. How else could squeeze a whole year into around four to five hours of filming?     

On MSN yesterday I came across even more dietary advice, this time from cardiologists. The article claimed a list of foods that they will not eat. Two such Items were frozen foods and tinned foods. The claim is that such foods are high in salt and added ingredients that also add to the salt and high fat content of them. Oh yes, is that right? So a bag of frozen garden peas is full of salt is it? Now here’s the thing, if we are take any notice of these things then we need to learn to read through and between the lines.

I would agree that a frozen curry and rice may well be high in salt, but not frozen veg. Yet that article didn’t make any mention of this. My next question is; ‘Why wasn’t there and distinction made?’ The answer is simple really; to say so would have shifted the balance of what the article wanted to say. As we all know by now, bad news is good for sales, or in this case, views of an on-line news stream. So read well my friends.

Today’s photo …

A stag at Whipsnade

Today’s funny …

Patient: Doctor, doctor, I can't stop eating cheese and biscuits.
Doctor: You must be crackers.