Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 32 - 1998

Another really important year for me now, as my second daughter Mollie was born in November, after my wife suffered a difficult pregnancy. She's an amazing young woman - very different to her sister, but just as talented in an artistic rather than literary sense. As I write this she is just starting year two of her degree in CGI/animation and I know she will do brilliantly.

This memory however, is about my first daughter...

1998:

The trivia:

• On 1st April 1998, Burger King took out a full-page advert in the USA Today newspaper touting the introduction  of a  new"Whopper" burger especially designed for left -handed people. The new bun would contain the same ingredients as the original sandwich, but rotated 180° to redistribute the weight and making in easier for lefties to hold without everything falling out. Thousands of customers swarmed BK restaurants requesting this new innovative burger - along with many others demanding their own "right-handed" version.

• As part of a marketing campaign for their new "Beats" watches, Swiss company Swatch tried to introduce a new decimal method of measuring time. Each day was split into 1,000 ".beats", equivalent to 86.4 seconds, with times noted as a three digit number. So the notation "@248" was 248 .beats after midnight or 5.57 am. At the same time Swatch announced that this new metric measurement had become the official time system for "Nation1", an online country apparently created and run by children.Strangely, it never caught on.

•  When the Galaxy 4 satellite malfunctioned, over 45 million pagers in the USA fell silent for more than 24 hours. In the days before widespread mobile phones, they were a not only a fashion accessory gizmo, but also a key way for medical and emergency staff to stay in touch, so this was seen as a major disruption. In addition some TV networks could not transmit programmes to affiliates, weather forecasters lost essential radar data and credit card readers in some petrol stations failed to function. This was over 20 years ago, so imagine what the impact would be in the world now if something similar happened....

The memory:

A Bug's Life

This second ever Pixar feature  has a special place in my heart. Not because of it's fun story, excellent Randy Newman soundtrack or ground-breaking CGI animation - although those are all great reasons for being on anyone's list. But more importantly this was the first film that I properly *shared* with my eldest daughter Hannah. I'm cheating with my timelines a little here, but it's a story that's too important to me not to tell...

"A Bug's Life" was very loosely inspired by Aesop's fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper", with elements of the classic Japanese epic "The Seven Samurai", plus that - back then brand new - special Pixar spin. The movie tells the story of an outcast inventor ant named Flik. When one of his faulty inventions results in the loss of the annual harvest that is always given to a bunch of bullying grasshoppers - and he then causes the tithe to be doubled after standing up to their leader - Flik suggests that he try to recruit some "warrior bugs" to fight the grasshoppers. The ant royal council agree, but really only to keep him out of the way...

Travelling to the insect "city" (in reality a huge pile of rubbish), Flik encounters a group of incompetent circus bugs, whose actions in trying to avoid paying a bill cause him to mistake them for the warriors he needs. He persuades them to return with him to the ant colony - mainly because they think he is a talent agent - but once there and greeted as saviour heroes, both Flik and the troupe realise their mistake. However, after they band together to save Princess Atta's baby sister Dot from a ravenous bird, they come up with an audacious plan...

Hannah was heading towards three years old when "A Bug's Life" came out at the tail end of 1998. I'm not sure my wife and I took her to the cinema to see it, as around about then was when Mollie was born (five weeks early). What I do know is that I bought the VHS tape when it was released a few months later, because by then Hannah had definitely been exposed to the large amounts of merchandise for sale through visits to the Disney Store and presents from relatives. She had a Princess Atta soft toy and her sister had a baby Dot, both of which went everywhere with them.

The thing is, early 1999 was also around the time when my wife and I finally split up after a difficult few years. It was a deeply upsetting time, but by then I wasn't living with the rest of the family full time anyway (due to other circumstances too complicated to go into here), so my weekend trips from London back to the family home 180 miles way just became more...formalised.  Hannah and I had always been close, so in those early months of the separation my two days visits became even more special.

Hannah was not a physically active child, due to the effects of the cerebral palsy she was born with, so she and I tended to gravitate towards more...stationary pursuits. We watched the video of  "A Bug's Life" together over and over and over again. Every scene became ingrained in my memory - it became our go-to film.

She particularly responded to the character of Dot. Perhaps she saw a little of herself in the tiny ant girl who wished she could do more. At the start, when Dot feels that she is never going to make a difference in the colony, Flik shows her a seed, using the analogy that even mighty oak trees come from small beginnings and Dot has to give it time - she is still just a seed. As the film progresses and the battle against the grasshoppers takes a darker turn, Flik is ashamed of all the troubles he has caused and does not want to go back to the colony. Dot then picks up a stone and shows it to Flik, reciting the exact words he told her at the start..."pretend this is a seed", gradually turning his depression into determination. Out of all the love my daughter had for the film, these two scenes seemed to stay with her.

As the year wore on, Hannah, her mum and new baby sister moved from the rented house we had all shared to a new-build house closer to my soon to be ex-mother-in-law. It made sense and it was a nice sized place close to other family members, amenities, etc. My wife and I still spent some time together for the kids sake, plus since I'd had to travel three hours each way to visit them, it was easier to be based at her house then have to be out all the time. But that proximity meant that we still fought over a lot of the same old things....

During one weekend visit, I think I was feeling particularly low - probably due to another protracted disagreement. I was just getting the kids out of the car as it was parked on the driveway of their new house. As was typical of new developments at the time, the driveway that led down the side to the garage was concrete with a centre section covered with small pale stones - probably a form of  limestone gravel known as Cotswold Chippings. As I lifted Hannah out of the car seat onto the driveway, she suddenly bent down and picked up one of the stones. She turned to me with a big smile on her young face - "Pretend it's a seed, Daddy" she said, handing it to me.

Immediately my mood lifted and blinking away some tears, I grinned and hugged her tightly. "I will" I promised, putting it carefully in my jeans. "I will". We carried on into the house and after a couple of hours I drove away for my long journey home. Later that night as I emptied my pockets, I found the stone again. Smiling to myself I put it on a bookshelf and went to bed...

Twenty years later, I still have that "seed".

I'm never going to part with it. It's moved house with me, been knocked off the shelf by cats and even once fell into a glass of Coke, but it's endured all these ups and downs -  just like me and just like my relationship with Hannah, which despite a few rocky patches (pardon the pun), is now better than it's ever been. That simple little stone is a lovely reminder of how wonderful my daughter can be and how we shared something special  - all from a film about tiny insects.


Honourable mentions:

• Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower - This brilliant artist / writer came to prominence through his series of "Oz" graphic novels, published by First Comics in the mid 1980's. His clean, almost glowing, artwork was just beautiful and his stories had a timeless quality, which took me back to a time when I read those original stories by L. Frank Baum as a kid. Shanower did a wide range of work for other publishers over the following years, but in 1998 he began what has become his most ambitious project. "Age of Bronze" intends to tell the entire story of the Trojan War in comic form in as much authentic historical detail as possible (omitting appearances from gods, centaurs, nymphs, etc.). It's a dense read, but Shanowers painstaking eye for period detail brings the characters and settings to life. I love it intensely, but it's not going to be for everyone. If you want an action packed condensed movie-style adaptation you are going to struggle. Frustratingly the story is still unfinished even after 20+ years. However a 2019 switch to full colour and digital single issues (with physical collections to follow) promises an increased release schedule at last. I can't wait to read the rest.

• Gods and Monsters - English film director James Whale is most famously known for his work on several all-time classic horror movies -  1931s "Frankenstein" (with Boris Karloff as the creature), 1933s "The Invisible Man (Claude Rains) and 1935s "Bride of Frankenstein". What is possibly less well known is that he was openly gay - something which was very unusual for the time period. I discovered this early film from Bill Condon by chance on TV, but its sensitive and warm (semi-fictionalised) account of Whale's last few days - and the possible bittersweet relationship he may have had with his gardener (Brendan Fraser) - has stayed with me during the years since. The always watchable Sir Ian McKellan excels as the filmmaker - his best years behind him, living alone, but still haunted by the voices of his past. Fraser equally holds his own as former Marine Clayton Boone - his gentle demeanor and flat-top haircut recalling the unmistakable images of Mary Shelley's most famous creation.There are several flashbacks -  to the making of Whales classic movies, the extravagant pool parties and his experiences during the First World War - all of which enhance a wonderful character piece. The gentle pace may not be for everyone, but I learnt a lot about a man that previously I knew in name only.

• City of Golden Shadow (Otherland Book 1) by Tad Williams -  Okay I'm cheating again slightly here, because 1998 was the year that this first book in the "Otherland" series came out in paperback in the UK, rather than it's original publication date. I was handed the book by a friend who really struggled with it, but he knew I loved Williams's "Memory, Sorrow & Thorn" series so thought I would appreciate it more - and he was dead right. Rather than high fantasy, the four huge novels are set in the near future where total immersion virtual reality has become the norm and anyone can access a vast array of imagined worlds. A diverse set of ordinary people from across the globe find themselves drawn into the "Otherland" network, assisted by a mysterious benefactor  - and not only have to contend with battling bizarre creatures controlled by the all-powerful Grail Brotherhood, but also realise they are unable to log off. They are trapped in the network and  - you guessed it -  if they die virtually, they also die in the real world. Williams manages to have his cake *and* eat it, as the virtual reality setting allows him to create myriad plot threads across every genre - from ancient Egypt to the Wizard of Oz - from the Battle of Troy to a gigantic house with no "outside". Twenty years on, and especially in the wake of successes like "Ready Player One", this may sound old hat, but at the time this was territory that that had not been explored before - and certainly not in such depth. I found myself eagerly awaiting each new instalment, desperate to discover the reason for the world-wide conspiracy and the core mystery of "The Other" at the it's heart. Still well worth a read.

• The Young Persons Guide to Becoming a Rockstar - Another of those odd little Channel 4  programmes which  promptly vanished into obscurity after it's six episode run. I'm sure I'm one of only a few people to even remember it. The series is a humorous take on the UK music industry, focusing on the improbably named Glaswegian band "Jocks Wa Hey". Led by the personable Jez MAcAllister (played by Ciarán McMenamin) along with a motley group of misfits and nutcases, the band stumble through life, somehow managing to get signed, make a ridiculously expensive album and get into the charts. Along the way there are a swathe of celebrity cameos (even a very young Gerard Butler) and gentle piss-takes of certain bands of the decade - such as "Bonk, Bonk, Bonk", who bear a more than passing resemblance to a certain Clydebank soul/pop group, complete with a spiky haired frontman who just won't stop singing. It's hardly savage biting satire, but the cast all appear to be having a great time and the mostly original music was melodic enough to make me buy the soundtrack album. 

• Pleasantville -  If there was any justice, this wonderful film would be lauded alongside "The Truman Show" as one of the best high-concept-with-emotional-depth movies of the decade. Instead it's seems to be under-appreciated. The basic idea of two modern day kids transported into the black and white world of a 1950s TV sitcom is a good one - allowing for all the fish out of water / culture clash motif's you would expect -  but it's the execution where it really shines. David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) find that their very presence is changing the town, stripping away the bland innocence. Not only that, but as both people and places start to burst into colour and characters step outside their defined roles, it allows for an examination of how some embrace change and the lengths others will go to preserve what's considered "normal". The colour effects are uniformly excellent and are used to great effect, such as a tree on fire, "Bud" covering his mother's colour face with B&W makeup and shop owner Bill Johnson paintings (with a lovely performance from Jeff Daniels). Yes some of the outrage about "coloureds" is a bit too on the nose, but it's forgivable when a film is as warm, inventive and enjoyable as this. 

• Wold's Wildest Police Videos - This reality clip show of car chases, smashes and arrests -  presented by the gravelly voiced John Bunnell  - might seem like an odd choice, and it's not here because I particularly *loved* the programme. It earns a place just due to it's sheer ubiquitousness, as it seemed to be on television all the damn time ! If I flicked through the growing number of satellite channels available to me, no matter the hour of day or night - there was ex-Sheriff Burnell with his over-dramatic commentary on yet another law enforcement pursuit. "World's Wildest" became such a guilty pleasure in my family that we played a game each night to try and find it. Was it an episode that we had seen before? Was John going to wax lyrically over the sound of car horns and screeching tyres on the perils of being a criminal and then make some awful pun at their eventual capture? You bet he was!

• Dark City - If it wan't for the emotional connection to "A Bug's Life",  I think this dark SF mystery from Alex Proyas would have made the top spot. Despite its obvious influences, it still offers a unique vision, asks some deep questions - and has a love for science fiction past and present running all the way through. As the film opens, our protagonist, played by Rufus Sewell, wakes up in a hotel bath tub, seemingly with no memory of who he is or his past life. When the phone rings, a mysterious voice urges our man to get out quickly - "The Strangers" are coming. This just as he discovers the body of a murdered woman and a bloody knife. Fleeing the scene through a city of perpetual night, he avoids encountering the sinister Strangers - pale, bald people in black coats and wide-brimmed hats. Tracking down his estranged wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly) he discovers that his name is John Murdoch and he is wanted for a series of grisly murders - crimes which he cannot remember committing.... What follows is a desperate chase through a strange cityscape - one which keeps changing at midnight while the inhabitants sleep, as The Strangers use their powers to alter people's identities, twist the shapes of buildings and "tune" their unknowable experiment into new configurations. There is no way I am going to reveal all the twists and turns of this noir-tinged story, as unravelling the layers is one of the best parts of the experience - along with the fantastic production design. Suffice it to say that I found "Dark City" incredibly original and deeply satisfying, even on multiple viewings. There's a really good cast too, including Keifer Sutherland, Ian Richardson, David Wenham and William Hurt. It's especially good fun as "Mr. Hand" (one of The Strangers tasked with capturing John Murdoch) is played by the one-and-only Richard O'Brien of "Rocky Horror" and "Crystal Maze" fame. Never was a creepy bald man cast so well !