Blood Orange - Iggy Pop stars in new Ibiza set movie

So what's it like? Whats he like ? Be honest I can hear you cry. He is very good  , but he should be seeing he is essentially playing himself ; a rock star living out his days in a chic villa in the Ibizan hills. He has bagged himself a sexy wife half his age (Kacey Barnfield in a "watch my career go stratospheric" role ), who spends much time swimming naked in the pool, and generally being sexy. One of the first scenes has the pool cleaner drooling as she majestically emerges from the water wearing only a blase expression. She has little to do but her presence is the catalyst for the plots tortured twists that follow.
Iggy has acted before, notably in a funny scene with Tom Waits in Coffee and Cigarettes where they famously dont hit it off. His first few lines are a bit clunky but he soon mellows into the part and is pitch perfect for the remainder. When he is not blasting the local rabbit population with his shotgun, he is often suffering in bed with various unexplained ailments, at least until the tawdry denoument. He has a deluxe studio set up in a upstairs room where he plays around a bit and pop pills, daftly washed down by the contents of a hip flask. Even rock stars have to kick the booze when they are on meds for serious diseases like cancer ( or leukemia). The real Iggy is glimpsed more and more as the tale progresses. he has to drive off somewhere, so its a Rolls Royce he leaves in, perfect for the windy lanes of Ibiza's mountains ! Theres a great POV shot that looks like vaseline has been smeared on the lens to give a sense of how little he can see through his cataracts.Iggy famously has driven a pink Rolls around Miami way for years. He is also having trouble with his legs ( and possibly hip) which means he walks with a pronounced limp. This is clear to see. His ailments in the movie maybe fictional, but Ig is paying for his wild ways now in later life.

The main thing though, is that he is still uber cool. He brings the disarming toothy smile to his dialogues with his wife's loathsome ex-boyfriend who turns up, digging for gold. Bill is all business, no small talk. Having invited Lucas to stay for dinner, his opening gambit is ; "You are either stupid or a idiot...."and proceeds to explain why his presence means one of the two.
"Why cant I be both" counters Lucas. Iggy laughs.
"Thats good, I like you. Stay the night and i will take you rabbit hunting tomorrow. Its good to hunt".
So begins the second half of this enjoyable melodrama.
The plot twists do descend into the absurd, but I was captivated enough not to let them worry me. When one of your protagonists explains how he wants to die, you know you have entered the world of make believe. It works in the cinema because Iggy is a great presence, and Kacey Barnfield is always his equal. Lucas is a nasty villain who has little to redeem him, so it is hard for Ben Lamb to shine. The last 15 minutes are pretty ridiculous, but Toby Tobias has done a great job directing such difficult narrative twists. Congratulations to everyone involved. You have done an incredible job getting Iggy to appear. Here's hoping the movie works on the small screen, although I do worry the twists may be just a bit too difficult for all but the most committed to follow.
Oh, I want to rent that villa, is it on Airbnb ?

Parents - keep your kids on a tight leash near roads , please

The horrible stories on Page 13 of todays Standard just about sum up the unpleasant side of life that can suddenly visit anyone in London. The main story tells of the" Madness of Knife Crime". Yet another youngster has been stabbed to death in South London. apparently Rukewve Tadafi - aka Peanut - was the fourth ex-pupil of Crown Woods College in Eltham to have been targeted. There must be plenty of whispers about rivalry from other kids who were there a few years ago. The other story is about a 8 year old running into the road and being hit by a car. The inquest says the driver was blameless. This made my blood run cold, because the same thing so nearly happened to me a few weeks ago.

Crossing the major junction in Camberwell on my motorcycle, I had reached the other side and must have been going at least 20mph. Out of nowhere a young boy ran into the road, directly heading for my path. His head was down, looking neither left nor right. Something made him stop and i brushed past him, with a rizlas width sparing him a broken limb, maybe worse, and me god knows what kind of hassle. Imagine what its like for the driver or rider to hit a child. Its natural for neutrals to blame you; it couldn't be the kid's fault, could it? Or the parents who were standing in the middle island like statues. I wobbled to a stop, my heart was going like the clappers. The relief was huge. The van driver who was behind me pulled up along side.
"Those parents should be flogged" he said.
" Christ, did you see that kid ?" I blurted.
"Mate, they should have a kid like that held tightly by the hand".
It was a good point. Was this the first time he had run into the road without looking or thinking? I doubt it. So you would think the thicko oiks would grab him while waiting for the light to turn green.
No sir. Not a murmur, not a thought. Just bumble on in your daft world, madam.The only accidents I have had on the bike in my 16 years of riding have been caused by pedestrians stepping into the road. There have been many close shaves with cyclists swinging out with the headphones no doubt blaring out. But I have been lucky.On the day a biker was apparently decapitated in Pimlico having been hit by a truck, one can just hope the luck doesnt run out on me.Wheres some wood.
It is also an irony that the successor to Mayor Boris has been voted in today.Johnson is the one politician who has truly done things that have improved my life. The day he allowed bikes to use bus lanes was a wondrous but obvious change for the good. Henceforth I have not been forced to ride a hairs breadth from the ongoing traffic heading at me. Biking became reasonably safe, not just a pastime for suicidal maniacs. The massive numbers of scooters, bikes and cyclists in London now has got to be down to this law, and the new Superhighways which look like they have been properly thought through. The nightmare junction at Oval is really good, I  hope the road works on Blackfriars bridge are equally as successful. The disruption to traffic around there has been mighty, not helped by the Crossrail station being built at Clerkenwell.
They have not all been a success. The weird arrangement going round the Oval cricket ground is hard to comprehend. The cyclists follow a purpose built track half way round. It then ends. The bikes have to cross into the bus lane. The bikers are forced back into the road with the trucks. All this with a right turn up coming that newcomers will not expect. How else do you get onto Kennington Lane if you are coming from Camberwell? Quite bizarre, but the timed signals allowing cyclist to go straight on heading for Stockwell from Elephant are really good.

 Lets hope the new mayor gets a grip of this major London problem - the traffic system. Has it ever been so? I remember Joe Strummer singing a line about it in 1978 ! There was not so much different stuff on the roads then, was there? But i bet 8 year old kids have always had a few dummys in the class!