Notes from the sketch book

“I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. .” The last week of Gangster fortnight, unsurprisingly features another Martin Scorsese feature on this weeks tee. In 2006 a mash-up of a remake of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs and the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang finally won Martin Scorsese his first Academy Award for Best Director. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and a surprising scene-stealing turn from Mark Wahlberg.  Boston cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover to infiltrate the organisation of gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)....

Where I live it's another holiday weekend and a long weekend off, no throwback Thursday sketch today but a little fun tribute to Teddy Rocks music festival. It's a music festival that raises money for Teddy 20 a charity that helps families and children that have been affected by Cancer. It's a great weekend long event with great music and family friendly, which all proceeds go to charity. When we first moved to our house we went to Teddy Rocks and had a blast, it's now found a permanent home on local farmland and gets bigger and better every year,...

American Gangster “Bumpy was rich, but he wasn't white man rich, you see he wasn't wealthy. He didn't own his own company. He thought he did, but he didn't. He just managed it. White man owned it so they owned him. Nobody owns me, though.” Released in 2007 Ridley Scott directed American Gangster which follows Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who earns his living as a chauffeur to one of Harlem's leading mobsters, Bumpy Johnson. After Bumpy dies, Frank uses his own ingenuity and strict business code to become one of the inner city's most powerful crime bosses. Meanwhile, veteran cop...

“You charge a guy, always charge a guy with a gun. With a knife, you run away. Run away from a knife. So you charge with a gun, with a knife, you run.” Well we are kicking off a whole fortnight of 21st Century gangster flix inspired art with the 2019 The Irishman. For the next two weeks we will be releasing and blogging about some of the very best of the genre released since 2000.....   In the 1950s, truck driver Frank Sheeran gets involved with Russell Bufalino and his Pennsylvania crime family. As Sheeran climbs the ranks to...

"In today's world, where we live, there is no longer someone else’s war. None of you can feel safe when there is a war in Ukraine, when there is a war in Europe" On this day in 2019 In the second round of voting, a candidate who only a few years previous was better known for his comedy TV, Films and the voice of Paddington bear received 73 per cent of the vote to Poroshenko's 25 per cent, and was elected President of Ukraine. That man was Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Born to Jewish parents and grew up speaking Russian, Zelensky would...