Echo Wall by Dave and Claire Macleod

Watch the trailer again


Last week I blogged the trailer for Echo Wall. This week I’ve been lucky enough to preview the Echo Wall DVD and can tell you that the full length version lives up to the thrills of the trailer.

Climbing was a mystery to me until I moved to Glasgow in 1998. Back then I sometimes accompanied Colin to the Glasgow Climbing Centre at Ibrox. There I would piddle about on a couple of climbs trying the reach the top of easy walls before wimping to the café in the rafters to sup hot chocolate and watch the show on the really, really hard walls. One night I noticed a dark haired climber who bore a striking resemblance to my horrible ex boss, I was fascinated, not by the resemblance but by the sheer eloquence of the climbing. Even I could recognise this climber was special. At the end of the night I asked Colin who he was. ‘That’s Dumbie Dave, he’s from Dumbarton’.

The climber was Dave Macleod, now one of the world top climbers as proven in his astounding film E11, when he pioneered one of the hardest rock climbs ever.

A year ago Dave and his wife Claire moved to Fort William to concentrate on their professional climbing and film careers. They might not like this comparison but they seem to me to be the Posh and Becks of the climbing world, but with substance and much more to offer.

Echo Wall finds Claire behind the camera, filming her husband training for an attempt on a dangerous climbing route, a blank wall on Ben Nevis. Where this film differs for other climbing cinematography is that there is no Big Wall American hype or zoom-in shots of worried faces; no phoney tension build up or histrionics and no strangled cries of ‘OMG this is awesome’.

Echo Wall is clever. One powerful opening shot is a wide angle of the massive, terrible ice smeared cliffs of Ben Nevis and a single, small figure (Dave) moving up the face, the shot is super imposed with the climb’s name ‘Don’t Die'(XI). My heart stopped at that point and I began to bite my finger nails.

The training in Spain shows Dave climbing 'Darwin Dixit' (8c) solo (no ropes – very bad if he fell). The techno drum soundtrack choreographed the piece into a stunning new art form; a synchronism of man and rock. It was wonderful to watch and I still had some nails left.

The training on Echo Wall itself showcased Scotland at its weather worst and best. The highlight for me was Dave’s training run over Tower Ridge, a ridge that most people tackle roped up.

It was fascinating to listen to Dave’s philosophy on risk and to watch him on hand and knees on his hall floor making a reinforced thighpad (next years must haves) and explaining how it would give him a few minutes rest time on the climb just before the crux (the hardest part where he could fall off).

The actual attempt is arresting, I have no idea what Claire must have been feeling behind the camera and I wonder if having her there makes any difference to Dave’s obvious sound attitude.

I won’t spoil the ending for you but will recommend that, if you are planning to buy a Christmas DVD for an adventure hungry relative or Discovery Channel junkie, then this is guaranteed to thrill.

As a novice film maker, Claire must be applauded for the production of the film. The appropriate and evocative music is ModernTrad and very desirable to own. She would have been spoiled for choice of scenery shots in Scotland, in this instance the choices shows relevant locations, using the best light and angles. Even the fun shots of the pair digging a snow pack off the route lightens the tension and makes the whole project feel intimate.

I suspect we won’t see a perfume range produced by Brand Macleod but I predict that thigh pads and hopefully the movie soundtrack will be the next offering. Even an art installation at the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) is a possibility.

The DVD can be purchased from www.davemacleod.com and selected outdoor stores.

A fistful of firsts

Check out this new film by Rare Breed Productions. 'Echo Wall' is released this month and can be ordered directly for www.davemacleod.com.

Who needs manufactured Hollywood Blockbusters when you can witness real live thrills played out on the steep cliffs of Ben Nevis.



A fistful of firsts




Well maybe not a fistful but I love alliteration and sometimes I can’t help myself.

Saturday dawned with the water pouring from the sky and from the cold water tank overflow pipe. Colin could fix one but not the other. We decided to knock off a couple of things I had on my fifty wish list with the biggest and best of the day being in direct response to the weather. What better day to go to the first and only boat lift in the world – The Falkirk Wheel. Opened by The Queen in 2002 and just thirty miles from home, I am amazed it has taken me so long to visit this feat of Scottish engineering. While we waited for the boat trip we encountered many soaked and mud splattered charity mountain bikers who had just travelled the route we originally planned to take to the Wheel; the canal tow path from Anniesland. I am so glad we opted for the car.

The Boat trip lasts an hour and for our £8.00 we were treated to a running commentary by a crewman while we travelled the four and a half minute vertical journey from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal, then a short trip through a tunnel and back again. It is too difficult for a engineering nitwit like me to explain the full principle of the wheel but it works using the counter weights of two gondolas, so uses hardly any power to operate.

Another first for me was, while travelling to the Wheel, we passed through Bonnybridge. Now Bonnybridge has been a fascination with me for years, ever since I heard that they have more UFO sightings there than anywhere else in the world. As we drove through I tried to suss out why aliens would pick this place to make an appearance. The town was a boom town during the industrial revolution, with good road, rail and canal links, but now it looks very much like a number of small towns in Central Scotland, a bit tired.

A second interesting fact I found out about Bonnybridge while at the Wheel was that they have more lottery winners per capita than anywhere else in the UK.

On the way back home I was tempted to stop off in Bonnybridge to bag another first, - buy my first lottery ticket, but then I remembered the reason why I have never bought a ticket before. I passionately believe that the lottery robs people not just of their money but of their aspirations. I remember in the olden days people pinned all their hopes on winning the pools, at least there was a small degree of thought went into that practice. The lottery is chance. Folks live from one week to the next in the hope of winning money to pull them out of the doldrums.

I know that the counter argument is the lottery gives to a large number of good causes, but it is my experience that the beneficiaries of the good causes are a different demographic completely for the poor buggers who spend large proportions of their income chasing empty dreams.

My first fifties are things I have always wanted to do, the lottery does not fall into that bucket. I know I will never buy a ticket.

First number three for this weekend was to cook a Sri Lankan meal. I am not sure if this is a cheat of not but I bought a packet of different spice at The Wheel Shop and yesterday I mixed them with the last of my garden potatoes and spinach to make a lovely coconut curry. The Hodhi Mix contains turmeric, dried curry leaf, mustard seed, mustard flour and Rampe. At first I thought this was a funny thing for a Scottish tourist shop to sell until I realised the producer, Therssy’s Village, is based in Portree, Isle of Skye.

Tunes of the Earth

Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah

The guitar tune I aim to conquer before the New Year. Wish me luck!

Synchronicity

I am a great believer in synchronicity, when two things happen at the same time with a strong connection. Some people call this coincidence, I call it spooky.
Maybe I am more open to this phenomenon, but I experience this all the time.

One such incident happened last Thursday. I picked up a book of poetry from the library, The Tree House by Kathleen Jamie. That evening I received the latest newsletter of The Ochil Mountaineering Club, a club I have been a member of for fifteen years. I was delighted to read of one member’s canoe trip to the islands of Loch Maree, Wester Ross. In the article the writer describes a tree on one island that has coins hammered into its trunk. Something triggered in my memory, something I had heard about Jamie’s poems. I grabbed the book and was astounded to find the first poem The Wishing Tree, describing the very tree on Loch Maree.



What is Inconvenient about the truth?

Last night I watched the DVD The Inconvenient Truth, the film by Al Gore. Most of the points made in the film were not new to me, but it was clear that the efforts of the rest of the world were pretty paltry compared to the difference the US could make if only they would take this matter seriously. The one thing that may make them sit up is the failings of their car industry. I personally traded my guzzling 25mpg Chrysler for a nippy 46mpg Suzuki. It was one of the best moves I have ever made.

This film also made me think of the other positive steps I have made to improve my own carbon footprint.

Two weeks ago I began ordering from a vegetable box scheme at http://www.mylocalfarm.co.uk/ This seems like a good idea until I manage to work my garden into providing my own fresh produce. The only problems is that the company do tend to heap on the root vegetables at this time of year and despite finding a great website http://www.mrneep.co.uk/, I am struggling to use up all the potatoes and turnips delivered.

It is difficult to come up with different Christmas Pressies for friends and family and still try to be earth friendly. But this year I think I have hit a winner. I live within staggering distance of Glengoyne whisky distillery and their gift shop is a full of locally produced gifts. One piece of their moreish fudge probably has more calories than I need in a year, but is so yummy it is easy to forgo the healthy options. The best product is their range of organic soaps handmade by Purdie’s. I bought the Whisky Ginger & Barley for my own use and have fallen in love with the evocative rich spice perfume. The packaging is simple and the price is not deadly. In future I will spread my soap purchases between the distillery and my other favourite soap shop, Arran Aromatics, from where I stock up during my annual visit to the island.

This year I also switched to Lush deodorant. Lush produce an organic deodorant sliced from a block like a lump of cheese. 100 gram purchase can be divided into small pieces and kept in paper bag. It lasts for ages. No need for the heavy plastic packaging used by most deodorant suppliers. My one concern with Lush is I don’t know how far the products travel before they reach the stores, but I can’t find a local supplier of deodorant.

Winter Crops

I live with the hope that my crops next year will surpass the fine specimines I admired in a Paris street market.


Winter Crops

My first season as a gardener is almost over. I have preserved as much as I dare and am slowly working through the crop of potatoes I grew in whisky barrels. Because I didn’t want to leave the barrels empty over the winter I have sown them with turnip, cauliflower and onion seeds and today deposited a garlic bulb into a tub near the back door in the hope I will have a fine crop in June.

This week’s success is the harvest of alfalfa shoots and bean sprouts. Both of these can be grown all year round indoors and only take a week to grow. The crisp alfalfa has a crisp nutty flavour of the alfalfa complemented, in taste and texture, the carrots I mixed in with it. It is satisfying to have fresh crops straight from the airing cupboard.

The bean sprouts were a little messier than the alfalfa; they were grown in a tray filled with damp loose woven cloth. They required more handling and cleaning but made a fine addition to a stir fry. Both will be on the menu for the next few months.


il postino - DVD

This weeks offering from the Amazon DVD rental was il postino, the Italian made film about the visit of exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to a small Italian community and how that visit effected the life of his postman. The film starred the wonderful comic actor Massimo Troisi who tragically died two days after the film’s completion in 1995. But the star of the film is the stunning poems of Neruda. I own a book of these poems and tingle in awe at their perfection. Like the postie in the film, I am inspired, yet again, to pick up pen and compose.





Just Read - To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

I first read To Kill a Mocking Bird at school too many years ago. And of course I remember the powerful performance of Gregory Peck in the film.
My reason for choosing to read this a second time came from a need to experience the voice of a child to help me build up my characters for novel two. And this must be one of the best examples of a novel narrated by a child.

Told through the eyes of eight year old Scout Finch, TKa MB tell the story of three children playing and living in a small town in Alabama before the civil rights movement changes the ways white people view black. The story is about fun and adventure and even contains a bogie man in the guise of Bo Radley, a recluse who lives in Scout’s street. But it is when Scout’s lawyer father, Atticus, defends a black man accused of raping a white girl, that the novel takes on its true purpose and uses the children to expose the injustice and warped human values around at that time.
Although this novel has a large number of characters, they are expertly drawn and nothing is lost in the telling. At times the eight year old’s vocabulary seems too mature, but she is the product of a legal household, which makes it easy to excuse.

I don’t normally read books more than once but I have a feeling this novel will be read for a third time in a few years.



l

A Tale of Two Cultures

Nicholas Hoare Bookstore, Toronto

Culture Two

Toronto, a city of high buildings and the CN tower. It is a different city from Montreal, but with its own charm. Our train was delayed by a major fire beside the track. There was high excitement when the driver switched the electric off one side of the train, causing the tilting mechanism to shut down and the carriage to lurch to one side. She had been instructed to teeter past the fire site, a scrap yard with burning tyres and propane canister. But despite the delay chaos at the Central Station ,the information lady found us a decent hotel in minutes of our arrival.

One of the Toronto highlights was visiting three city centre bookstores.
1) World's Biggest Bookstore, who live up to their name. They stock a huge selection of Canadian and American literary magazines. I bought two, I couldn’t help myself.
2) Nicholas Hoare. I can honestly say is the best bookstore I have visited in my life. The interior is lined with tall wooden shelves bordered with green wrought iron detail. All books are classified to perfection and every book I saw on display I wanted to read. It is a class act. I could have browsed and lingered all day.
3) Indigo. I spotted from the eight floor café of the Hudson Bay Company. The curved glass street front window looked inviting; unfortunately I had to battle through Saturday afternoon shoppers in a mall to reach the entrance. It was not a good experience. The store is similar to the large bookstore in the UK. Popular fiction, cookery and self help books piled up for the masses.
Lucky Toronto, their bookstores cater for all taste.

French Bliss - DVD Cyrano de Bergerac (Gérard Depardieu)

My DVD rental was one of my all time favourite films this week. Cyrano de Bergerac, stars Gérard Depardieu as the French poet and soldier, expert swordsman and popular leader. His one distinguishing feature is his huge (in fact it is massive!) nose, Pinocchio without the strings.

Because Cyrano believes he is ugly, the love he harbour for his cousin, the stunning Roxanne, falls undeclared. Roxanne, who admires Cyrano is blind to his devotion and when the handsome guy she fancies joins Cyrano’s unit she asks her cousin to look out for him. He does more than this; he helps the tongue-tied youth win Roxanne’s love by composing exquisite love letters, so full of passion and soul they make her swoon. She marries the youth but becomes a young widow when he is killed in battle. Roxanne wastes the rest of her life mourning the lie and is content to live with the paternal company of her ugly cousin.

The film is heartbreaking because it allows the viewer to witness Cyrano's painful unrequited love until his death scene, when Roxanne realises the soul she adores belongs to her selfless cousin. It is then she tell him she love him. Too late!

One thing that is interesting about this film is that the personality of Cyrano is so strong his big nose become almost invisible. As my granny would say, ‘handsome is as handsome does.’

If a heart breaker is your pleasure, this is a must.

Winter is on the way

Today I spotted the first V of geese this season. I look forward to watching my friends from the frozen North make their morning and late afternoon flypast over the house.

Books and Films

DVD - Black Book

I don't watch telly, well maybe a little, but I do indulge in the occasional film. Three a month to be exact. We hire DVDs from Amazon. We compile a list of old and new release films and receive them by post. Once the film has been watched it's popped back in its pre-paid envelope, posted back and within a couple of days the next film on the list arrives. It's great.

This week the offering was Black Book, a dutch film with English subtitles. Black Book is the story of a Jew involved in the Dutch Resistance just before the end of WWII. The story is well plotted and convincing and the actress who plays the lead, Carice van Houten, is brilliant as the Jew who falls for the German she is sent to spy on. The revulsion she tries to hide, as she sings a duet with the SS officer she saw murder her family, can only be describe as simpering contempt.



Just Read

The Master and Margarita by Mikail Bulgakov is my first real venture into the world of Russian Literature and I enjoyed every minute of it. The novel is a fantastical story of a visit to Moscow by the Devil and a few of his side kicks. The Devil uses a theatre black magic show to gain access to large numbers of Muscovite and tempt these poor people with money and fine clothes. He exposes the worst traits in them and sends a number of the theatre staff to the lunatic asylum in the process. The only two characters immune to the mischief are the Master, a writer who burns his own novel about Pontius Pilate before ending up in the asylum, and Margarita his lost mistress, who left her husband to become a witch and host Satan's Ball so she could free her mad lover.

The novel is packed with fanciful stories and an intriguing account of Pontius Pilate's part in the demise of the Messiah. The descriptions and images are described in a rich and unique style. The one problem I had reading this novel was the weird nightmares that visited me, so in a way I am please to close the last page and look forward to a peaceful night's sleep.


On Holiday

I am off to Canada tomorrow. I hope I can post some snippets while I am there.