REVIEW: JAMIE FOXX - ACT LIKE YOU GOT SOME SENSE: AND OTHER THINGS MY DAUGHTERS TAUGHT ME

4/5

Dad Keeps Embarrassing Me.

When 'Will' came out this month, movie megastar, the original Agent Smith who is even big enough to pass on 'The Matrix', showed us the way yet again. Just watch that Tik Tok that's gone about as viral as Smith's sensational second career as a YouTuber before he serves for the Oscar throne as 'King Richard' with the Williams sisters. The way that took the West Philadelphia born and raised (where's did he spend most of his days? Do you even have to ask) Fresh Prince who moved in with his Uncle and Auntie in Bel-Air to Hollywood and beyond infinity as his buzz welcomed aliens to earth. But during the age of 'Big Willie Style' and that very album for the new man in black, one of Will Smith's good friends was waiting in the wings. Or the interludes. The hilarious Keith B. Real. Do you remember? Don't act like that, you know you got it! That album sold more than Taylor Swift...or maybe even 'Independence Day' for the King of the fourth of July movie-going weekend. Still, not with me? OK. You've got Spotify. I'll wait like Will with those two guns (word to Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington) in 'Bad Boys II' when another classic Def Comedy Jam stand-up talent was trying to tell people that were shooting at them that they weren't immigration. Hilarious right!? But does that voice that's constantly getting thrown out by Smith's legendary bouncer Charlie Mack (first out the limo) and slapped by Jada sound familiar. Yep, that's right! Beat Shazam. That's Jamie Foxx. Before the Oscar for 'Ray'. 'Any Given Sunday'. Even 'Ali' with Smith, when Foxx was in Will's corner again for his 'Collateral' and 'Miami Vice' director Michael Man's boxing biopic as Bundini Brown. This compared to Smith's star stratosphere was almost a before they were famous moment, even though Jamie had his own show named after him like 'Martin'. Now as 'Will' lines everyone's bookstores and shelves Jamie has his own good book to go next to the Hollywood God. 'Act Like You've Got Some Sense' and read it too. 

Spidey senses right now are tingling at a buzz which is scrolling and sawing through the timelines and fan theories as the second trailer for this Christmases 'Spider-Man' trilogy conclusion 'No Way Home' dropped this week like bird s### made of cement. Whilst the big question and mocked up leaked photos is on whether Jamie Foxx's 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' co-star Andrew Garfield and the original Tobey Maguire will suit-up as Peter Parker alongside Tom Holland. The latters post credits cameo in Tom Hardy's connected 'Venom' movie and all those universe web weaving Easter Eggs in Jared Leto's 'Morbius' trailer has us hoping they'll go into the spider-verse like the classic animation. Besides all the villains are there like the return of Foxx's electric Electo character that gave us the most epic showdown amongst the bright lights of Times Square in 'TASM2'. Putting the big city of New York in another blackout. And you have to love the new duds and the classic comic crown call-back for Foxx. Even if we did like the Blue Man Group look in Manhattan. Let's just hope Jamie keeps the electricity in his voice. Speaking as such as he talks about the pleasure of "getting to kick Spider-Man's ass" here you have to get the audiobook version of this autobiography that will join you in company when you get ready for work in the morning and take the train home. Not only is it easier on the hands, you lazy readers that love to just scroll through stuff, it's chocked full of Foxx's sly, charismatic charm and the art form of his impressions. Everyone gets it. Sidney Poitier in regal introduction (that's Mr. Poitier to you...and me). Snoop Dogg in a meet the family moment similar to welcoming your daughters first date round in again, hilarious 'Bad Boys II' fashion (you've all done it, just not with The Doggfather). And the best and funniest impression you'll ever hear of Jay-Z. It's crazy! It sounds so much like your boy. 

Names are dropped, sure. This is Hollywood and the man who also moves in music circles and comedy circuits. This is the man that played Ray Charles and in the same year provided that voice for Kanye West's 'Gold Digger'. He took your mooooney. He hosted better parties than Diddy. Introduced Ed Sheeran to the industry. You only have to watch many a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to see he is a master of storytelling like he is of ceremonies. Just check the one about Bobby and Whitney and whilst we're here that Denzel impersonation too that he even impressed on Washington himself. OK, alright! 'Django' has had out attention since his Mr. Cab Driver sold us and Jada Pinkett in Real reunion on his "cool groove experience" Island Limo's idea before all the 'Collateral' damage happened with Tom Cruise. But the most important name is Foxx...and not his. His daughters. Corinne and Annalise Bishop. Corinne who provides the foreword even narrates the chapter names...which are as creative as the careers of these Foxx's themselves. Earlier this year Corrine Foxx even produced her father in his return to the small-screen sitcom world for the family comedy 'Dad Stop Embarrassing Me' based on their lives. Sure, the show tanked like Jamie and our R&B friend (what's up Babbs?), and Netflix have couched and cancelled 'Dad Stop' after it barely got out the gates. But that's Netflix for you and they still have 'Project Power' with Foxx. But there was nothing embarrassing about that delightful, charming, inoffensive show that took us back to both the golden, good old days of television sitcoms before streamers and Foxx's salad days of having an Eddie Murphy family of his raw characters he created and played himself to delirious effects. It was just in and the wrong time. But how about this book? It serves as more than a sequel or a companion to the show. Instead more like a behind the scenes documentary to the family and home life of a Hollywood legend and his real, lasting legacy. Besides for all the inspired impressions and charming character, what's better than the real thing? 'Act Like You Got Some Sense', Eric Bishop's grandmother Esther Marie Talley, the woman who raised him and the tribute subject of his beautiful piano, 'Unpredictable' song 'Heaven' told him, to which he named his book. And check the dust jacket of Jamie Foxx's memoir like running a cloth over it and straight out the foxxhole you can see the words 'I Taught My Daughters' crossed out for the common sense of this books sub-heading, "And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me". Sure this book my be a parenting guide, but it's no Dad of the year hubris pitch. Even though this man is that type of father like Vader is Luke's. Instead this awesome autobiography were Dad doesn't embarrass is a celebration of love and life. The man may not be married and that's his choice and his right like it is everyone and anyone's to do what they wish with their heart, so long as it doesn't hurt another. But it's clear all he's learnt in this life and everything he continues to be educated on comes from the work and worth of the women in his life. Act like you've got some sense and listen to those teachings too. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

REVIEW: QUENTIN TARANTINO - ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

4/5

Once Upon A Time...Back In Hollywood.

400 Pages. Writer: Quentin Tarantino.

Liverpool, 2007. Home of The Beatles. Fans waiting in droves like Americans at airports hoping they have the stones. A now as defunct as the neon one in Times Square, Virgin Megastores is packed to the tip like they were giving out free condoms for your cherry popping. Lines circle round to the rails like the bathrooms of 'Pulp Fiction'. So much so you don't even need a needle to the heart for this shot of adrenaline the special guest in attendance is giving you. He's definitively draped in leather to the boots like a rockstar, but this is no Ed Sullivan show. More like a man who always gives you a shot through the heart (and we aren't talking about Bon Jovi) with extra blood splattered for effect. On the Q.T. we're talking about THE director of cult classics. This town may have been made famous by John, Paul, George and Ringo, but tonight it's Quentin Tarantino's. This is 2007, so his popularity is at epic heights. Camera phones flipped and turned on and in his direction before social media truly became a thing. MySpace can wait. People were doing this for their own posterity. Here he actually is, signing copies of his screenplay 'Death Proof' for the Grindhouse double-bill with friend and 'From Dusk Till Dawn' director Robert Rodriguez's 'Planet Terror'. Before the battle of the 'Basterds', 'Django', eight that hate and more westerns than you could shake a saloons batwing doors at. This is the guy that gave us 'Resevoir Dogs', 'Jackie Brown'. The man who felt still as much as a myth as he was a legend. Here, in the UK. Straight from the USA. Rewriting the American dream and starting from the end. Everyone in line like me is thinking of the perfect question to ask him. We all work at a local cinema in a small town trains throw away. We're all dreamers hoping to become screenwriters too (one has made it as an actor thanks to that hard work). I figure that's four in one company, imagine one town, one country. The world?! I got to step it up. The questions come thick and fast. "What's in the case?". "What's in the case?" "What's in the"...OK, they come thick. People are asking what's in the box like Brad Pitt wondering why Gwyneth Paltrow didn't make it home for dinner. But people want to know. "Whatever you want it to be" the misunderstood director who is actually Paul Rudd gregarious in real life and not aloof kindly replies. Then it's my turn. I stroll up, nervous as hell. This is an idol. An inspiration. A great. A God. Someone who legend have it would be picked up by a man in a van after stumbling onto the main road after a night on the town that day. Just another classic once upon a time story for his Hollywood history. "Quentin, I've just got one question I've been dying to ask you." He looks up. "What do Salma Hayek's toes taste like?"

Foot fetish fans, I know that to even you that sounds like filth, but like Christoph Waltz putting one in DiCarpio's Candie man with a prostitute gun, "I just couldn't resist." And have you seen 'Dusk Till Dawn?' There's a moment tequila really makes Tarantino happy as the 'Desperado' star Hayek drives her foot into the directors mouth and pours tequila down her knee, all the way down her leg and into the man's mouth. Hey, one half of it is at least sexy. I may not mind feet, but I know a fetish when I see one. 'Death' was proof. As was, well every other film in this man's outstanding 'ography. Even in this book, they are pressed against glass, draped over falling red cinema chairs and laced with the hippie dirt and grime of a smogy, Sixties Los Angeles. Because this is 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', Quentin Tarantino's first and brand new novel based on his latest, and quite possibly greatest movie. Another love letter to the land of Hollywood and movie masterpieces like Miramax. A sign of the sixties time you can't help read in the narration of 'Proof' vehicle driver Kurt Russell. Who along with fellow cameo star Bruce Dern, the late great Burt Reynolds who was meant to be in the movie that also saw another we lost in the lovely Luke Perry, 'Bill' himself David Carradine, legends like Robert Blake, 'Vol. 2' highlight Michael Parks and the late, great Robert Forster (yeah 'Jackie') is "especially" thanked amongst these "old timers" with their "tremendous" Hollywood stories realer than Charlie Murphy. Holding this book in your hands, they are the reason we get to read this period piece now. Although it's 'The Hateful Eight' hostage Jennifer Jason Leigh in cahoots who moonlight like moonshine as the audiobook versions official storyteller. And what better an accent to punctuate this prose? "Hollywood 1969...You should been there!" The strapline tells us once again. Well, now we get another chance for the new novel based on the film whose dust jacket cutting room floor, behind the scenes photos shows these extra chapters we're based on scenes actually filmed for the movie that directors cut may still find their way to that promised four part TV serial Tarantino still may give us. With blurbs of each player in this script harking back to television of its time and even commercials in the back for fellow "new" novels like 'The Switch' by Elmore Leonard and the novel that was adapted into 'Hollywood' star Al Pacino's 'Serpico', wherever books are sold. This one is the perfect picture that fits the part. Answering more questions than my one about Tinsletown stars toes. Like what really happened with 'The Great Escape'? What's with this Bruce Lee s###? Is there more Manson? And did Cliff really kill his f###### wife? 

Pray, we will never tell, but there's definitely something in the water and you're going to need a bigger break to get through this addictive page turner that shows Tarantino is as nuanced a novelist as he is a compelling, cinematic storyteller. In fact that brutal moment is in some ways beautiful, such is the juxtaposition of Quentin's ever controversy courting cinematic work. Although the Bruce Lee story, true or not, doesn't sit so well with us as much as the much-maligned movie moment here (the film hinted that it thought this guy was all mouth. The book has more than a few foul choice words for the martial arts legend that we know will sit in even worse standing with his family), you can't deny the gun sticking conviction of Quentin, even in the face of criticism. Especially in these times. Rejecting hypotheses of those claiming he's sexist (Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate gets an even more respectful and deeper delve into character here, although her history rewriting end (which is now a Tarantino hallmark is omitted) or racist. Besides with what some of the characters say here about a certain 'Rio Bravo' star, you're going to think the dynamic director hates Dino. And let's not get started on Glen Campbell. All in all with legendary chapter names (from the Kurt Russell Ego as an actual planet, let alone as big, 'Brandy You're A Fine Girl' nod, to literally 'The Last Chapter') to one's actually written in the western first-person real-time of the Hollywood film they're shooting in this movie, to an alternative ending that's so subtle we won't spoil, but still as compelling as this cinematic classic (it features a different type of car pulling up and a phone, but no ones heads getting bashed into it...sadly for some), this nuanced novel is more than a companion piece. It's its own stand-alone classic. Showing this screenwriter can go as by the book well as you thought...and hoped. Whether going against type. How about the different location were DiCaprio and Pitt's characters meet Pacino's Agent Marvin and all that leads to? Or sticking to the script. The description of dinnertime with the dog evokes those traditional Tarantino indulging cherished moments like chow slop that writers have tried to put in descriptive words for years. More than making up for the fact that arguably the greatest long take in Tarantino history of Pitt driving down the Hollywood highway and past the contrasting bright lights of a big-screen, drive-in movie that his trailer...park home hides behind is merely a footnote. Some things are better seen than said...even for this man. Fun fact, Hollywood hearthrobs Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were once up for the Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger roles in Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain'. With all due respect to those two legends of their own, how monumental and game changing would that of been at the time, during their collective prime? Well, almost as big as two of the world's leading men starring in the same classic 'Hollywood' picture that is Oscar winning no longer a once upon a time or wish on a star dream. This book that's full of tidbit stories like that we won't spil just documents this definitive moment in movie lore for the record. This L.A confidential is no longer, hush, hush. This work of fiction pulp from the 'Pulp Fiction' director actually chicken after the egg was written following the filming and due to Q.T.'s love for movie novelizations. It doesn't get more sleepy, quiet backstreets to the all eyes on me, he, or she, whoevers the talk of the town, big city of stars than this in a true behind the scenes cut. Moviegoers and aspiring writers alike will want to take a page out of this book, answering more asks then seeing what lies beneath the clasps of that gold light. Now with the man himself even hinting at a 'Reservoir Dogs' novel that he considered first, we can't wait to leave the local bookstore with more in our little green bags. Oh and to conclude the story. As for Quentin's reply to my question about what lies beneath Hayek's heels, "pretty good, pretty good. If you ever get the chance I recommend it". You're move Salma. Only in Hollywood. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

REVIEW: ETHAN HAWKE - A BRIGHT RAY OF DARKNESS

 

4/5

Darkness On The Edge Of Broadway.

Hark! Who goes there? Times Square. All of the lights. Here's what we know about this name written in them. Ethan Hawke first got our attention like "O Captain! O Captain!" as he got on the desk of 'Dead Poets Society' and got that of the late, great Robin Williams. But the 'Training Day' star and Denzel Washington's man (how nice is 'The Magnificent Seven' reunion for Antoine Fuqua?) is more than that, or even that rookie cop, ride along movie. The American actor, writer and director has been nominated for four Academy Awards (half of those for screenwriting) and a Tony. Getting behind the camera for three feature-films ('Chelsea Walls', 'The Hottest State' and 'Blaze'), three off-Broadway plays and a Toronto film festival favourite debuting documentary ('Seymour: An Introduction'). The 'Reality Bites' star is cult best known for his 'Before' trilogy of Sunrises, Sunsets and Midnight's with French megastar Julie Delpy and revolutionary director Richard Linklater ('Dazed and Confused', 'Everybody Wants Some') who also literally directed Hawke over time for the decade plus spanning 'Boyhood' experimental and epic family drama. Or he may be better known for once being married to 'Gattaca' co-star and 'Kill Bill' and 'Pulp Fiction' icon Uma Thurman. Now 'Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood' their daughter Maya Hawke is making her own name as the scene stealing Robin in 'Stranger Things' season 3, amongst forging herself a beautiful music career with her pops barn music video direction. AHOY! Not bad for a 50 year old from Austin, Texas who right now is filming the latest Marvel super-series alongside Oscar Isaac's (what a cast already), 'Moon Knight' were he plays the villain. Like he does here. 

Blazing like saddles of late this man has been on even more of a trail. Critical acclaim came like it should have done with an award for his church chaplin character in Paul Schrader's 'First Reformed' in 2018, but before that he was already mounting up and riding. Donning a stetson twice in a year for something 'Magnificent' and the underrated 'In A Valley Of Violence' (think 'John Wick' in the Wild West...they even kill his dog), face offing opposite John Travolta. After some classic sci-fi cameos in Luc Besson's 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' and a directors cut one in the 'Total Recall' remake opposite Colin Farrell, the renaissance man has been hitting his stride of American legends. Like country and Western singer 'Blaze', or the coil of Serbian-American inventor and engineer 'Tesla'. Playing Pat Garrett alongside 'Valerian' himself Dane DeHaan's Billy in Vincent D'Onofrio's underrated 'The Kid', you'd be forgiven for thinking the man who earned his spurs wanted to keep them. And why not? Who could blame him? His Showtime special on the "instrument of God" John Brown ('The Good Lord Bird') does nothing to abolish that...which you best believe is a good, no great thing. Ethan's first love, however was in theatre and the stage hawker who made his debut in '92 with' The Seagull' most recently retook to the Broadway stage with Paul Dano in 2019 for Sam Shepard's (rest peacefully) 'True West'...oh, another Western. So much in his saloon you'd be forgiven for thinking the man who has just released his fourth novel (his first three include 'Ash Wednesday', 'The Hottest State' and 2015's 'The Hottest State'. Not to mention the 'Indeh: A Story Of The Apache Wars' graphic novel) was releasing a prohibition era one with its burnt orange dust jacket by a struck match looking to set everything ablaze like moonshine. 'A Bright Ray Of Darkness' however sets alight the spotlights of theatre. Stage set, were Hawke's narrator is a movie actor on the ropes of life, dealing with divorce from a much more famous celebrity partner (a rock goddess) and being present with his kids whilst trying to maintain a Broadway run of 'Henry IV' under a media glare like Times Square. Wait a minute! Is he writing about himself? Is this semi-autobiographical? Meta? Surely not. This character is cloaked in so much narcissism, if it is him then this really would be dripping with a gratuitous greed of self-indulgence. We think instead this Hawkeye is just having his fun with us, all whilst taking some shots with the bow at his younger life. Playing Cupid to a Devils advocate. It's awfully stage left close though for a man that even once played Hotspur on Broadway with an off-contemporary twist. The New Yorker magazine calling it, "a compelling, ardent creation." How much more on the nose can you get? Well, the name of this character reciting Shakespeare? No, not Ethan (thank God), but William.

To preen, or not to preen. That is the new social media age old question. Now the legacy 'half' hour of time before an actor takes to the stage they are looking at their reflection not between illuminating flashbulbs, but the distortion of a black mirror. Compelling like his interview cadence or bar room keeping the first act of Aussie sci-fi 'Predestination' in perfect time. Well-written and heartbreaking honest and defiantly devote though in a time were we can curate our own online narratives with little thought spared for anyone else in this merciless purge, Hawke delivers us a nuanced one worthy of the bestsellers. Sure talking about a struggling male, white actor on Broadway in 2020 is seriously selfish. But without wearing a mask even on stage it is so much more self aware than critics will give credit for. Here's a man who in character takes ownership for his side of the street, but won't play into a "wrong side of the tracks" cliche when there's more reasons than the catalyst of cheating to why a marriage breaks down and rings are tore off fingers with no more death do us part. Sure the sex here (espeically in another made bed) is dirty but like Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals (how fitting) once said, "I remember when sex was dirty and the air was clean. And everything worth knowing was in a magazine". I don't know if that means much to this, but it's a hell of a line. Besides the bed side manner here is still written with a blue beauty Haruki Murakami signature with all the passion that comes with it. Playing out in the tabloid scripts, the real expose is the exploration of a man's mind when everything leaves him behind. Friends, family, the industry. The dream he had in his soul. Not the heart of one lost in the bight lights like the big city. It doesn't matter if he's in the Big Apple entertainment core of the world. He's lent up on a dumpster on a Times Square side-street in chain-mail and pigs blood, eating an ice cream sandwich so his voice doesn't pack its bags and leave a ring on the table too. He had the world. He gave it up for night. He thought the people loved him. He's about to hear what they really say behind his back cheered into the masses of a crowd at a safe distance like six social feet. This book is as blisteringly brutal as the bloodthirsty displays that used to play in The Globe. And even if this is theatrical Hawke doesn't escape all that is shed here in the name of his own life, he comes out swinging from the canvas of playwrights. Seconds out. Some may think showing that side isn't really bright (whiskey business). But when all our life is a stage, that's real darkness. And in lifting the curtain and showing us behind the scenes backstage, Ethan Green Hawke deserves his standing ovation. Take a bow. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: HARUKI MURAKAMI - FIRST PERSON SINGULAR

4/5

Singulars Without Plurals.

First things first people, let's get down to the singulars of Haruki Murakami's latest classic collection of compelling short stories ('First Person Singular'). All the lonely people, drifting through Tokyo and the rest of this land as rising sun turns to neon, lost in translation. The kind of hearts you see beating between backstreet bars and midnight diners for their Tokyo stories. The soul of this city. Dressed up like a yukata, but shrouded in the suited shadows of a salary man's uniform. Drowning in sake and regret. Down on their pachinko slot luck. But still so atmospheric and beautiful like the purple or orange sunsets here that remind you of sakura season in all its cherry blossom and still give you hope for the momiji-gari of a red Autumn they hope will never leave. Showing in a fleeting moment and perfect poignancy that there may be darkness to come once the day is done, but still a bright one will follow the light of a brand new sunrise. There's the cat that doesn't get the 'Cream' on a Prince song named somber affair that turns anxiety into a meditating cure to all those ills in a world as stressful as Shibuya crossing at six. Not an actual cat...that one was abandoned on another short story you can find in the legendary magazine 'The New Yorker' were a couple of these tall tales originated from in type. Have you ever been stood up for a date? Yeah...we all have. But imagine being stood up for a concert invitation after ascending the mountains of Kobe to find a bolt on the door like a 'Coach Carter' gym. Talk about performing solo. Did he get the wrong time like when former NBA young gun OJ Mayo asked the late, great Bryant who was named after the same  Japanese city after his pops Joe 'Jellybean' (I see a running food metaphor...and I'm hungry) if he could practice with him? "Sure meet me at 3", 24 replied. Mayo waited at 3PM for hours the next day. No garnish to the Mamba's promise. He called him all mad when he finally gave up the ghost. "Where were you?" "Where was I? Where were you?" The Hall of Famer replied. "I was waiting for you. I was there. Right on time...3AM!"

You think I meander too much into my sportswriting gig? Just you wait. 'On A Stone Pillow' Murakami lyrically laments a lost girl who calls his narrator by another name as the love they make tries to take her higher, or to the past paradise of a love gone with the wind. Leaving her as dead as a head resting on a stone pillow waiting for the other shoe to drop in an execution gavel to a heart that's already stopped beating so long ago it felt like the stone age. Is it insomnia were faithless you can't get no sleep? Or is it a fever dream that brings you to a bar that has 'Charlie Parker Play(ing) Bossa Nova'? Are you as high as a Bird? Or having the same thing Jack Nicholson was in 'The Shining' as the spirit of that iconic Kubrick from King bar sobers the mind? You be the judge here, like who is a character, or who is stranger than fiction, first person Haruki. With this ode to one of jazz music's greatest, playing like a fictional, but spiritual college newspaper album review of a record that didn't even exist, forget the cutting-room floor. Or did it? Nostalgia nuances see a schoolboy crush run past our half-way narrator in uniform with the fact that he never ever saw her again 'With The Beatles' for a man as muse obsessed with the Fab Four as his country (I mean check the 'Rubber Soul' of his signature classic. And when it comes to 'Men Without Women' like Oscar nominated Steven Yeun 'Burning', I want to turn his short 'Drive Mr Car' into a movie starring Hiroyuki Sanada at the Park Hyatt...hey a dreamer that made it here can dream on). Clutching John, Paul, George and Ringo in monochrome under her arm and what could have been. As a life of lust, death and more stood up symbolism permeates an awkward family room wait with the brother of a lover. This and the fellow New Yorker piece 'Confessions Of A Shinagawa Monkey' at a hotel room mini-bar after some too close for comfort hot spring steaming are the highlights of this cohesive collections set. Even if I couldn't get the monkey from the PG Tips advert (the Johnny Vegas one my fellow Brits) out my head...I've done worse when picturing characters. This monkey does not mind his business and you'll go ape s### at his sin. You may even shed a tear at the tragic conclusion to this chapter, but will it be for the primate or some other mate? 

'Carnaval' doesn't exactly keep the party going like you think it would as Murakami's narrator debates classical music and the "ugly" girl he befriends and deems a F*. Although once you get behind the proposal of the ring on her finger, one of the most complex plots of 'First Person' will linger. 'The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection' will remedy all this darkness with some light-hearted couplets and prose for a team that may be in more despair than the narrators of the other short stories. Although Haruki Murakami admitting this one is him and how his self-published poetry collection from the diamond remains one of his most sought after and high-priced bookshelf finds. Rounding the bases the man who loves baseball and decided to become a novelist at 29 after a run were ball hit bat in a light bulb moment click brings us home with no foul balls. But how about the last curve thrown for the story this book is named after? 'First Person Singular' ends like a descent into hell with a suit and tie and apparition chasing a vodka gimlet in a world were we'd choose one last shot over a last meal. 'Til death do us part. Leaving us with much more than a bitter taste, but so many questions wanting more. This 'First Person Singular' is curtain call concluded perfectly with 'First Person Singular', as the 'Norwegian Wood' man continues his hot streak since the 'Wind' took his 'Pinball' away to the tune of 22 novels like 'Kafka On The Shore' (thanks, sis), 'South Of The Border, West Of The Sun' and the marathon memoir of 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' (catch up to it). All in his singular, signature style mixing meataphysic other worlds of dreams too real to wake. With a bruised soul, aching loneliness, chased with explicitly blue beauty in sexuality. The Japanese master who can pen sprawling epics like the Orwellian '1Q84' trilogy and the last full length 'Killing Commendatore' (thanks, Bec), or short stories like this hasn't haunted our loneliness quite like this or since the days of 'Men Without Women'. A friend from back home like the one who told me you wait to turn to the photos in autobiography books when you've read and earnt them said he waits to find each Murakami book he reads by chance, so he can enjoy Haruki's work gently throughout his life with no rush. Instead of having nothing left. It's a romantic notion I've adopted and since moving to Japan two years ago I've found seven. But I couldn't wait for this one. Right now to join a Murakami cafe, there's a library and Tokyo and of course Murakami Radio that has inspired a latest Uniqlo clothing collection curated by Haruki himself (you best believe I copped a few tops). But nothing right now is more personal than this first singular. Just like you should 'Dance, Dance, Dance' with your 'Sputnik Sweetheart' it's time to read, read, read all about it. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Reading: 'Men Without Women', 'Desire', 'Killing Commendatore'. 

BOOK/TV REVIEW: THE QUEENS GAMBIT

4/5 & 4/5

The Crown.

7 Episodes/322 Pages. Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Moses Ingram, Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Harry Melling, Marcin Dorociński, Isla Johnston & Bill Camp. Director: Scott Frank. Writer: Walter Tevis.

Late to the game, straight hungover out the bath like I was partying in Paris with a model (I wish), it's time to punch the clock. Last fall 'The Queens Gambit' miniseries on Netflix starring 'Morgan', 'Split'/'Glass' and 'The New Mutants' Best Actress Anya Taylor-Joy was a Golden Globe capturing monster. Rising faster than this orphaned prodigy above the ranks. Becoming the streaming services most watched series in a month. Making chess cool again. Because it was always as sexy as it was stimulating...think not? Forget blitz chess. Try playing 'Strip Chess'...trust me. With decadent, debonair direction from the Best Adapted Screenplay twice-over Oscar nominated Scott Frank (the Lopez and Clooney cool 'Out Of Sight' and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine's last stand in the neo Western of 'Logan'), this period piece looked as hallmark haunting to the time as Taylor-Joy's 'Peaky Blinders' to the brimstone of old Birmingham. And what a joy she really was as she played a blinder. But like the chicken and the egg, how about what laid the foundation to all of this? Walter Tevis' terrific book that was doing the Amazon rounds on Black Friday during the shows initial stellar streaming run across the board. So much so after subscribing and purchasing, when we had got round to this book in our pile and show in our continue watching section we decided to watch and read at the same time in this age of binge. 14 for 7. Chapter for episode. No stranger to games over the decades Tevis wrote the book on Paul Newman's young to seasoned Hollywood gambling career. From the pool shark beginnings of 'The Hustler', to back on the green felt for 'The Color Of Money' with another young LA upstart looking to take your money and make change in some kid called Tom Cruise decade's later. Walter also wowed the world with two science fiction epic novel masterpieces that even forefather Philip K. Dick (who gave Cruise's best of the 90's career a fresh, future forward jolt into the new millennium with 'Minority Report') would be proud of ('The Man Who Fell To Earth' and 'Mockingbird'). But which is better? Novel or adaptation? Well for your modern chess openings how about we file how these two would fare battling it out in black and white? Let's play. 

White Queens pawn moves forward two spaces. 

Tevis to his testament knows how to set a scene like a table for dinner or board for game and what he does in this chess stories opening is no different playing his own gambit like Channing Tatum hopefully wants to do one day for the 'X-Men', as Anya already has in the long-delayed 'New Mutants' which came out to little fanfare in last years cinematic quarantine. Definitely in response to this show which has locked down everything else like forcing your hand to make a sacrifice and topple your King. The planets pandemic took to this 'Gambit' like a card dealt poker face. Last year's real marvel in the endgame of movies. The show starts the same. Honouring Tevis' rule book to the letter sportingly like the city and time typography across the screen in all its colour. Killing it like eve. 

Black Queens pawn moves forward two spaces. 

Pills and bottles on the books board instead of knights and rooks, the Queen of this Gambit Beth Harmon was addicted to the adrenaline of more than winning. That's the substance to this stylised story. Scott explores this frankly, but also funnily. One spoonful of sugar scene in the medicine cabinet were a young Harmon (played inspiringly by Isla Johnston) is just as hands in the air holding nothing hilarious as it is when it floors you in the book. You'll fall for it again and again. But it's the stirring scenes with classic character actor Bill Camp (who is always great, but something else entirely here), whose janitor Mr. Shaibel teachers her about this game with chain clicked light bulb and steel table closeted resignation and sportsmanship. Setting the tone for the rest of the series like his character does by the book. It's a beautiful arc in one episode and chapter that in each verse results in earned emotion by the end. So much so you'll feel it dropping in all its water on the pages or your popcorn as you binge the same. 

Queens side bishop pawn moves forward two squares. 

Moses Ingram's influential Jolene will take your heart in this queen of one's like the one Dolly Parton sang about. Whilst 'A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood' adopted mother Marielle Heller will move you to the core with her heartbreaking bruised soul. 'Love Actually' and 'Game Of Thrones' famous face Thomas Brodie-Sangster really comes of age and his own pirated, leather and fedora cool like he did in fellow Netflix miniseries 'Godless' (a godsend to the Western genre like his pistol spinning kid). And even Harry Melling (who was also hauntingly good at being bad in last years Tom Holland Netflix ensemble 'The Devil All The Time') comes out from under the typecast stairs of 'Harry Potter' to work wizardy wonders on a different platform. But it's 'Hurricane' actor Marcin Dorociński who like a quiet storm strikes fear into the hearts of this mental maddening game of cerebral wits all the way to your cerebellum as Borgov. Even his name makes him sound like a Bond villain. Just like the big boss you just can't defeat at the end of a games level. Cold and calculated and sharp as cutting down all your defences, King to Queen. When he strikes your clock it almost sounds like the swish of a switchblade as he looks at you with daggers. To you it's a nightmarish shock. To him a shrug of nonchalance. You can see page to screen, all the actors breathe new life into their characters. But no more than Joy who chin to resting palms stares straight at you. Right through to the soul with a fourth wall break, before she does the ceiling of all the pieces coming to visionary power together. You see the shadow above her crown. It's her throne now. 

Now let the real games begin. 

And with three moves that's 'The Queen's Gambit', but who wins? Call it a draw or an adjournment to a possible season two, but the Netflix show and the Tevis book it was based on mirror each other like the pieces on the board in black and white. But read all about this, when it comes to everything else playing right now...checkmate. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Playing: 'Innocent Moves', 'The Hustler', 'The Color Of Money'.