BLOG 2010

Not a big fan but really enjoyed the excellent Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story. (Can still be seen on iPlayer here). I hadn't realised there'd been so many failures and so much hard graft before Eddie Izzard became successful. There was also a very moving, powerful and brave segment at the end (the last ten minutes) focusing on the loss of his mother and why he performs, which remarkably I didn't relate to although I expected to.

What did strike a chord with me however, and what I realise (I'm a bit slow) was the central premise of the documentary, was the "Believe" part. Izzard told the story of how when he was an escapologist he was advised by another escapologist (I know this sounds like the lead-up to a joke but bear with me) that you have to believe you can escape before you will actually be able to and he drew the analogy with being a comedian and acting etc: you have to believe you can do it before you can actually do it. As I write this I realise it should be no surprise that I related to that bit of the documentary, it's along the lines of the "floating" section in At The Water's Edge.

There's a BBC Imagine special on Ray Davies tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to. I have a Ray Davies story for you which is quite amusing but that'll have to wait for another day.