The Great Gordino Newsletter – Sep 16th 2014

"Scotland decides"Hi,
I hope all is well with you.

My country is about to change this week, as the Scottish referendum on independence takes place on Thurs 18th. The polls say it’s too close to call, and both sides can make arguments for and against the unknown, because after hundreds of years of union, going independent will bring many unkowns, but would certainly mean massive changes both for Scotland and for what’s left behind.

My gut feeling is that the reassurance of the status quo will win out, but since it genuinely could go either way, it’s a case of wait and see.

I think April Fools Day must fall on a different day in France. That’s what I thought when I heard the latest brain wave from Michel Platini, the head of European football. He says that if a player retires from international football, but the manager still wants to pick him, if the player refuses he should be banned for his next 3 club matches.

Total nonsense – I wish he’d concentrate on more realistic improvements, like bringing in time clocks which the ref can stop, as already happens in other sports. It would eliminate the ugly and inevitable time wasting which is prevalent in the game.

"Ian Paisley"
Ian Paisley died this week. A hard line unionist during the troubles in Ireland, he said he would never sit down with the IRA, and when it was suggested there could be some sort of power share, he shouted ‘NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER’

In the end he came to see that intransigence was just prolonging the problems, so he did get involved with power sharing, and came to be friends with former IRA commander Martin McGuiness, a terrorist to many.

Paisley said he lost friends over that connection with McGuiness, but peace has pretty much taken over since the shared government there came to be.

"Richard Kiel"
James Bond actor Richard Kiel also died. Well, he didn’t play James Bond, his character was one that always make the top reaches of polls of baddies – Jaws. Originally written to die at the end of ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, the character was so popular he appeared again in ‘Moonraker’

"Marilyn Monroe"
Talking of movie polls, a prop that also appears at the top of the ‘favourite’ lists, is that dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in ‘The Seven Year Itch’. It’s a classic scene, a classic shot, and the dress sold for over £3 million in 2011. It’s 60 years this week that the scene was shot in New York, at 1am, taking 3 hours and 14 takes. As often happens in good old Hollywood, the shot still wasn’t right due to noise from fans, so it was re shot in California.

Legend has it that Marilyn and husband Joe DiMaggio had a big fight later that day over the scene, and she filed for divorce.

Movies are still big business today, and this anniversary is as good as any to remember the money that can be made, from merchandise and memorabilia. I did it myself, way back before the days of Facebook, but social media is great for doing it today. I’ll tell you exactly how I did it in my book ‘FB Passion Profits’, which has a full money back guarantee if you don’t like it!

Ok, I’d love to hear your thoughts as ever,
‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. In case you missed them from last week, here are 2 posts since the last newsletter:
ELO Cover Of The Day #2 – Showdown
Remembering Rick Rescorla 2014

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Reply to Doree Weller X

8 Comments

    • Thanks Doree,
      As well as writing individual articles about various stories, the newsletter allows me to cover topics which I either haven’t got time to write about more fully, or probably don’t need it! 😉
      thanks for stopping by,
      cheers,
      Gordon

    • It’s really interesting Sandy,
      due to the promises made during the week of more powers for Scotland if they voted not to leave, now those powers have to be delivered, and it’s causing all sorts of political rows! Britain externally will stay as healthy as ever for now, but internally there are lots of changes to come!
      cheers,
      Gordon

  • Hey Gordon,
    Your blog is always refreshing and entertaining to me. I really enjoy it!

    You were correct with the votes counted and Scotland staying with the status quo. It will be interesting to see if promises made will be promises kept.

    Marilyn Monroe is a very fascinating person to me. There is so much mystery surrounding her including her “encounters” with John F. Kennedy.

    Thanks once again for a great post

    LeslieZ

    • Hi Leslie,
      The promises made in the run up to the vote have caused all sorts of problems haven’t they!
      Marilyn is indeed fascinating – did you see the show Smash on TV?
      Thanks for your kind words, I apprecaite it!
      cheers,
      Gordon