Here I am at the edge

 The table has turned I wasn't sure this day would arrive, with all the readers in Singapore , and Hong Kong , the UK had a tough challenge' today's main group of blog readers is the UK . This shows g=how few readers I get :( :(

 No small task I should complete stage 1 of my logging task this afternoon; this entails logging what I have for sale on eBay . Stage 2 is more fiddly, than difficult, this stage will have me chasing what I downloaded from YouTube , the issue here is I have three download stores. The hardest task is to log what I have on disc. In this section, I have two cases of dvds ; one for items I have seen, and wish to keep, and another case for discs I haven't seen. With stage 1 completed, I am taking a short break to get ready for the next stage, this is not because it will be hard, but the task will be fiddly. The third part is the hardest, I have to log, and write the titles of over150 DVDs, so I don't get any more doubles as my store on eBay is not selling many.

 Until Tomorrow becomes Yesterday I don't know if it is me being cynical, a sign of the times, or old age, but the older I get the less I tend to trust what people tell me. Someone was said "Trust is like an egsshell, easily broken, and unrepairable."

 A Homecoming Later this month, I hope to begin the rewriting of this romance story. My plan. should I succeed, is to extend the original story by about 50 pages, by taking the leading from Israel to meet a friend in India for a research project. If there are some eBook sales, I may write a sequel . As you can imagine, any romance will involve a mature lady, you wouldn't expect anything other than that, from me.

 Alan Place - A Writer in time Last night, I considered the idea of turning this image into an eBook telling my story as a writer , over the last 15 years, why did I change my mind? The main reason is that a other than my friend, in Seattle , there has nobody who helped me - though I used to promote other writers - if anything, most of the people I came in contact with did their best, for whatever reason, to obstruct my progress. I can't say my time was even an uphill struggle, it was more like am 1100cc car, trying to pull a monster truck. At no stage did I consider I was making headway.

 I upset a lot of people You rarely here about the downside of being an award winner , believe me it can be terrible; I am talking from experience. Before I earned my award for the book above; I had several contacts in the USA who were writers , after the award, I had none.  We could put several reasons up for this, my view is that I put a lot of noses out by winning the award. For months before, all I was reading was about contracts, tours, and how much they earned, what courses they were on, and qualifications they had.  THEN BAM!!!!!!! From out of the left field, I earned an award, with no formal qualifications, no course - the only course I had booked I could not attend as I tore my left tendon they week before - nothing in my favour, other than a vivid imagination. LEFT FIELD Sometimes to say something unexpected gapened people may say that was out of the left field, what do they mean? It is a term used in baseball ; the majority of people are right-handed, so they...

 Early days I admit, when I began writing I was naive. I had no idea some editors wish you to write your story to suit their style. I thought the editor was there to refine the work of the writer to an acceptable standard. The first editor I had contact with kept asking me to change my story, to the point, I realised I was not writing my story, I was writing a story to please him, and I quit. The next editor I had contact with, to put it politely "shated me," when she knew I had an original story which could go far, she sabotaged my story; it was the work of the the third editor, now my friend in Seattle which turned this story, with a few refining moments, into a book which earned its author an award .

 The blog is over Don't expect any more from this writer , after this. it has been on my mind for a long time to close the blog , with posts being hardly read; the time has come for me to "throw in the towel," and call it a day. What is written can stay, so you can r ead to your pleasure , but I am not doing another post. As with some questions, you could say, "If I'm asking this question , in my mind I jbow the answer."

  Austria When I used to read Classic Opera magazine, there was a festival I would have loved to have visited - other than the Ring Cycle - all I could recall was it has a stage set on a lake. I was certain the venue was in Northern Italy. I am wrong, the venue is   held in Bregenz ,    Austria . I don't think I'd like it now, as with the Wagner Festival , the scenery is too modern for me.

Manners matter  I wouldn't go as far as Hindus , and Muslims , and keep ladies covered from head-to-toe, but fashion these days appears to me to be going too far, close to obscene, in my opinion. I saw a photo of an actress, I presume, attending the BAFTA awards tonight, and her dress covered where it touched; which wasn't in many places, it was almost as if she was trying to hide.

eBay Bargain  Starting today, I am reducing the cost of my DVD bundles on eBay , in the hope this will encourage a few sales.  My DVDs are already a bargain . If you follow the blog, you will know my selections are of the older films, prior to the take over of the Three Khans around 1990.

There is nothing as good as upsetting the people who pay you  I didn't know, the Professor who claimed to have found the body of Nefertiti has been banned from working in Egypt since 2009. The antiquities board has told Dr. Joann Fletcher her claims is false, and she had twisted the facts to suit her needs. One magazine in the USA , went as far as printing an article saying her claims are balderdash. That must have hit her sponsors, the University of York , and their reputation hard. I wonder how Universities decide to allocate funds? The University of Manchester is a good riddle; they are funding a doctor to check to see if there is no sentient life, other than on Earth in the galaxy. As stupid as that sounds, you have to admire the audacity of the quest; there is no way it can be achieved, we have no idea of what lies in our tiny fragment of space, yet he claims we are the only sentient life in an expanse which we have knowledge of its depths.

I stripped my computer A couple of days ago, I uninstalled the games Tropico , and Pro Evolution Soccer from my computer , because the computer was lagging and stalling, and I stopped enjoying the games. I may uninstall Thief too, as it is a first-person game, and I don't like those. With a 1st person game, all you see are the hands and feet of your character. you have no concept of where you are. The result is I can use my DVD player with the computer without it jamming, a big plus for me.

Sunil Dutt  The meeting of Nargis , and her future husband, Sunil Dutt was a re-enactment of the final scenes of the Raj Kapoor film Aah , about an actor who gets burned in a fire. In the film, Raj's character learns from a friend that his lady love, Nargis, is in love with an artist; he rushes to his room and rips all his painting of her up, too find out, he is the one she loves. As he walks to view her perform, he picks up a burning torch to get a better view; he is so enthralled by her, he doesn't notice the set is on fire, and he's trapped. He does escape, and they live together, though his injuries are severe. During the making of the classic film, Mother India , Nargis was caught in a stage fire, her rescuer was Sunil; he spent weeks in hospital as his hands were burned. The saddest part of this story is she died days before their son, Sanjay Dutt , made his debut in the film Rocky. At the premiere, a seat was left vacant in the front row, to honour the death of Nar...

Actresses who played Bollywood Nurses  My Google search for actresses who portrayed nurses in Bollywood  could well have had a misleading title, the definition of a nurse has changed over the years. My search was for nurses in a hospital such as Meena Kumari , seen here on the left, and Shammi , on the right. These days carers in India are classed as nurses as well. As well as the well known role of Ms. Kumari, the Times of India mentioned the role played by Waheeda Rehman in   Khamoshi , but forgot to mention the part played by Lalita Pawar in Anand , I found that in one film Farida Jalal also played a nurse. Hema Malini played the role in the film S atte pe Satta  . I am not surprised the lesser known actresses were not noted; the article is written by a young person. The article mentioned a film with A ishwarya Rai in, that I would probably not watch; I am not a fan of Ms. Rai, and the leading man is an actor I avoid watching. I noticed in my Google search fo...

Run by two regimes  An article in the Times of India backed up what I have been saying to the hilt; Bollywood is sexist , and it is run by two regimes. Even in my short time of watching films from India , I have noticed these facts.  It is sexist because to this day, Bollywood is run by the Kapoor family; their credo is a lady must give up her job to run the family; to every rule, there is an exception, in this case Sridevi . The family knew there was no way they could pressure Sridevi to comply to this rule, she was one of the top actresses of her time; did this factor into her untimely death, and the subsequent lack of details of her demise; even 6 years after her passing, there has been no formal autopsy report. The other regime is that of the Three Khans , what Shah Rukh Khan , Salman Khan , and Aamir Khan say is taken as law in Bollywood, to get even a minor role, you need their permission to appear in one of their films. It is a disgrace because there are some wonder...

 A basic error Here is another example of an " expert " making an ass of themselves. Several months ago, my wife and I, were watching a video on YouTube, done by Dr, J oann Fletcher , which again had me wondering how some of the degree courses get passed. In this case, the doctor was examining a corpse which had been tied, and buried in a bog. The corpse had a shield, and a sword, so the doctor decided, without a basic skeletal check, the corpse was male. Fifteen minutes from the end, she managed to untavel the knots, and found it was a female corpse; it is wrong to assume that men were the only fighters, after all who defended the villages when the men were away?

 Nearly everbody claims to be an expert these days For a short time, years ago, I was a book reviewer ( freelance );  one of the books I was sent to review was by a bestselling writer . He may have been a bestseller , in his field - How to manuals - but he had no idea how to write a story . We use a method called a "hook" to keep the reader going, it can be anything from a bit of unexpcted news to a question which nobody wants to ask, or answer. The hook usually comes in the first chapter, this book was so BORING, after 50 pages, the most exciting thing which happened was the main character had colour-coded his pens for the day.

 Coffee without sugar It is not unheard of, for me to drink coffee without sugar, or black coffee , but I usually do it for a reason. This afternoon, I suppose the reason is depression . I have also drank black coffee by choice. I didn't tthink what I was doing this afternoon, until I took a swig of my drink, usually I would have dashed for the white crystaline substance, but not tofday.

Something needs updating  A while ago, I began compiling some lists on IMDb ; I do odd things now I have stopped writing . As I have seen more Bollywood movies, the list of ladies needs to be altered, also the list of films I wished I had not seen can include some from India ; mainly with Govinda in.

 Not enough for a cup of coffee Many writers are loathed to tell you what they earn, they consider that a private matter; I am not one of those people. In my best year, yes, I did have a good year; I earned less than $2 a month. I had friends saying you should do this, that, and the other to boost your sales. I checked several book distributing sites, and found they didn't offer anything I wasn't doing. Most sites have links to Smashwords , Draft2Digital , and Amazon ; it is only how they use the intel which changes.

The hard part is next on my list  One of the items on my to-do list is to track down which films I have downloaded to dvd . The lady on the post is another of my fave actresses who I consider, both attractive, and a good actress, her name is Shefali Shah . Shefali is the Netflix series Delhi Crime , the two sets of stories relate to True Crime in Delhi , I will warn you the first story is harrowing, it is over a decade old, yet the news of the crime haunts me now. The leading lady in the film, Satta , is another favourite of mine, Raveena Tandon . Last night, I had the idea of downloading images of actresses in India who had portrayed a nurse on film; several came to mind without thinking.

 I see no point in doing the How we did it disc Today, I find myself in a common situation; the Bonus Disc issue. Some people may enjoy seeing how the film is made, to me, it takes the enjoyment out of watching. I will be honest, the only reason I got the film is because Rani Mukerji is in it. Also in the film are two actors I cannot abide, Salman Khan , and John Abraham. Unfortunately, Rani usually appears in Bollywood as the leading lady with Shah Rukh Khan . Another lady I enjoy who has the same issue is Vidya Balan .

The answer lies within the post  Last night, I asked who is this lady? , as I pointed out, I doubt many younger viewers would know her sisters. I couldn't provide more information without disclosing her identity . The lady is Magda Gabor , the eldest of the Gabor sisters. Middle sister Zsa Zsa Gabor is the one with several marriages, and the youngest sister Eva Gabor was the actress. For some reason, I thought Zsa ZSa was married to musician Artie Shaw , she wasn't. I probably got the idea as he he was married to two actresses regarded as very beautiful, Lana Turner , and Ava Gardner ; in both cases not for long as he was a self-acclaimed difficult person to live with.

  She had two well-known sisters This beautiful, winsome, young lady had two well-known sisters, but who is she? Here is a clue, one sister had several marriages, and the other was well-known in tv, and the movies .

A Twitter Boost On Twitter is a group called The Film Crowd who tweet about, yes you got it, films. Tonight they have been very useful in boosting my blog reads. I doubt I will sell a DVD , most of mine are older than the people I have noticed in tweeting, and "Liking" my posts. Also the DVDs I am selling are mainly Hindi .

 Hindi DVDs for sale on eBay Last night, I completed the first of several DVD lists I feel I need to compile; as my selection grows I need to track what I have either bought, or downloaded to prevent an overlap. I am trying to sell some of my DVDs  https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active ; if you see a DVD you wish to buy, please ask, and I will set up a sale for the DVD outside the selected range.

Googling away to myself  I finally decided to turn my computer on, for the first time in three days, to hunt down some Hindi films . The lady here is  Hana Laszlo , from Tel Aviv ; she is the lady I had in my thoughts when I was writing my romance , A Homecoming .  Now my computer is happily humming to itself :) :) With the electricity tickling its wires.

Before I got married  The film from India , The Householder , reminds me of an incident which happened before I got married. My girlfriend, told me she had something to say which she had to get in the open, she was worried I would leave her, as what she had to say was against my mother.  At the end, I turned to her, gave her a big hug, and said "I'm not surprised, my mother can be a bitch." The film is much the same, it's about a young man who finally gets the courage to stand up to the domination of his mother.

How many times must it happen? The Hindi film  Achanak reminds me of an episode of the series M.A.S.H. ; the episode has Hawkeye, and Trapper John patching up a young soldier, knowing within a few hours he may be back. Doctors on battlefields must have asked themselves that question since the first soldier came to be treated. In this case, the soldier is to be hanged for murder as soon as he's fit, the film runs though what caused a respected man to turn into a killer. I keep coming back to the words of a mother, she said "How many young men, must die fighting wars for old men?"

 Icon of Beauty To many viewers of Bollywood ,  Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is viewed as the iconic beauty . I know I am no expert in the matter, but my opinion, is she is very attractive, yet I can name at least five ladies I find more attractive without using Google , in the cinema of India today, why don't I see her as the height of beauty? For me, she is too tall, slender, and apparently she has an extremely large ego, which could be related to her rows with her mother-in-law, Jaya Bachchan -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-fall-of-house-of-bachchan.html  

 The end is nigh This news I can always read, another hunt has folded. The rich, are finding the less wealthy have their voice; I have never, nor shall I ever, be in favour of hunting . Killing for food is different, I once knew people in Alaska who had to hunt to get food , that is a neccessity, not a sport . As much as anybody, a farmer hates the hunt; one bad crop can force the farm to close, and there is nothing worse than haing horses trample your crops.

 I will try to remain impartial As with the Nagin series of films from Bolywood , despite having the preferred edition, in the case of Devdas (1955); I shall try to remain impartial when I compare the three versions I own. The most glamorous version will without a doubt be the recent one with Shah Rukh Khan , Madhuri Dixit, and A ishwarya Rai Bachchan . The 1955 version has Dilip Kumar,   Suchitra Sen , and  Vyjayanthimala in the title roles, I saw, and enjoyed Dilip, and  Vyjayanthimala in the film  Madhumati a few months ago. As for the 1936 version, this will be the version I will see with no expectation as I have not heard about, or seen any of the cast.

 Where in India? If you read the blog , you will notice for the last year I have been writing a lot about India; this may give rise to the question where would I like to go if I had the opportunity to visit India ? I do have a short list of possible destinations, which has changed since watching Bollywood movies; some things have NOT changed. I always wished to visit the Red Fort at Agra . My father was stationed at Pune during the era of the partition with Pakistan , that area interested me as well. Mumbai  ( Bombay ) could be intersting, as could K olkata ( Calcutta ). There are some interesting places to visit in the Thar region of .R ajasthan , the problem there is the area is so remote, you need an armed convoy for security as the police don't patrol that far. One intersting thing about the area is they still have a camel division who patrol the desert around the borders. I may visit Delhi , not for the Taj Mahal , if it still stands, as recent downfall of rains from ...

 I am waiting to be turned on I have a feeling that with Valentine's Day only a few days ago, you are thinking this is a post about romance . You would be leaping to the wrong conclusion, I know the title is provocative, that is a trick/ tool of the writer . Having got your attention, let me explain what I am writing about. It has been three days since I turned my computer on, and I am in no rush.  I rarely play a computer game, and I need to buy some software which is not expensive, but for a short while is more than I can afford.

 The world of Fashion I rarely post in a trend , and I have no interest in fashion. One thing is apparent, even to me, the view of fashion has changed little since the days of Audrey Hepburn .  Then as now, being thin, not slim is the way to be noticed in the world of fashion, this is not my concept of beauty, but who am I?

 Glamour of the past I do not hace a criterio for what I consider being attractive is.  Looks are not everthing, that is all I can say; I would posit that my views on Bollywood glamour would not agree with everyone's taste. Durgha Khote (above) is an example, she has a strong facial structure which is attractive to me, it means her appearance is less likely to turn to fatty tissue as she ages, and it didn't. Other ladies of this era I consider attractive are Meena Kumari, Nutan , Nargis Dutt , Shammi, and Durga's niece, S hubha Khote to name a few.  The odd thing about Nutan is though I find her attractive, her sister, Tanuja , I have never conidered as attractive; yet, Tanuja's daughter, Kajol is attractive.

 Hema Malini In 1977, Bollywood actress Hema Malini appeared in the film Dream Girl , as she was the most attractive actress at the time. I have to admit, she has got more attractive over the years. Being in the film helped her carreer, but as big an influence was she married the leading man in the film, who was one of the top actors of the era,     Dharmendra . Their sons, Sunny Deol, and Bobby Deol are actors, as is thier sister Esha Deol . I have asked myself, who do I think is the attrive actress in Bollywood, in my opinion, and I cannot gove a definitive answer, even my views change. Once, I would have said Madhuri Dixit , but one thing is certain, Raveena Tandon is always near the top of the list.

 Jaani Dushman I bought his film off  eBay last year, because it has two of my favourite ladies in Bollywood in - Aruna Irani , and Reena Roy .  The horror films is about a monster who kills new brides, the film also has two more of my fave actresses in India in, Rekha , and Sarika Thakur . On the down side, it has Jeetendra in; I can't win across the board, at this time, he was one of the top three male actors.

 Aruna Irani and Reena Roy A movie I have been trying to buy has turned up on eBay this week. The film, Ladies Tailor , is about a man who is the tailor to film stats in Mumbai - Bombay when the film was produced in 1981 - I've been seeking the film as it has two of my favourite Bollywood actresses in, Aruna Irani , and Reena Roy . I have seen many films of both ladies, but I think this is the first with both in the same movie. Apparently, they have appeared together in two other films, a western called Kachche Heere , and the horror movie Jaani Dushman . Jaani is easy to buy, but the western is unavailable. I am hoping Aruna gets a better tole than most of the films I have seen her in, for her ability as an actress in Bollywood , her parts are usually little more than a walk-on extra, which is terrible considering her talent compared to some of the other ladies I have watched. But, in those days the films indusrtry in India was ran by the Kapoor family, now it's run by Sh...

  F.E.A.R. I was looking forward to playing   F.E.A.R. when I bought the game , but within minutes I knew I could not play the game, what was the problem? It is the same with most games with CGC -    Computer Generated Characters - they are programmed to do thier task, and you are left in the dark, which is why I rarely play racing games , it is almost impossible to win; I did win a secion of one game. First Encounter  Assault Recon   looked like a good game to play, but the CGC left you wondering what to do.

 John Romero My post about old computers reminded me of a YouTube video I saw last night. The video  is about the game Diakatana , the designer is John Romero , the designner of the Quake engine. If you can't recall the game, why should yo; it was the greatest bown in gaming hinstory. It was supposed to be the ground-breaking game of 2000 , eagerly watched for, until the hype outlasted the crew, as JR sacked most of the designers , and the game ran out of steam long before its release; when it came out, it was so bad people asked for a reund. The game had so many glitches it was unplayable, and the colour scheme, or lack of didn't help you as half the game was in dull browns, and greens.

 I didn't know they are still available My son was offered a computer system a few minutes ago, when he checked the specs, we found it was Windows 98 ; I didn't think people had computers that old these days. Oddly, I have a game that would play on the system :) :) 

 I have the most vital qualification I have been watching some videos on YouTube tonight, and apart from the lack of knowledge of grammar there was one thing that is obvious. The person doing the subtitling is NOT aware of the English language . What is it that I possess that these people lack? I have no degree in English from a University, but I understand how the language is spoken, and I know about out history .

 Bath Cats and Dogs Home Ebay Shop My latest purchase from the  Bath Cats and Dogs Home Ebay Shop is marked as small, which doesn't concern me. I bought the t-shirt as it shows the only sport I am truly interested in watching, and I know the money is going to help a cat or dog , hopefully have a more comfortable life; and perhaps find a forever home . Though it is marked as small, the shirt fits like a glove; to a USA man it would be small, but their small is a UK medium. Whereas large to a man from Asia is small to a person in Europe .

 A double dilemma Years ago, when I was dating ladies, one lady put me in a dilemma. I suggested we could go for a picnic, my idea was to find a quiet spot to enjoy the countryside , and have some food, and something to drink. From this, she made the decision I was asking to make loe to her; the idea never entered my head, at the time. This was June , my thoughts were perhaps by my birthday in October she may be willing to show me her panties , I never thought more than that. What could I do? If I didn't accept the offer, she may have thought I didn't consider her attractive; yet, if I did accept, she may have thought that is what I was meeting her for. The idea she may have wanted NSA - No Strings Attached - sex never occurred to me, until a few days ago, and the incident happened many years ago.   A few years ago, I was chatting to an attractive nurse who lived in Cornwall , when from out of the blue, she said, "You're only chatting to me because I have large brea...