ManicMammy’s Blog

Politics, religion, conflict, attraction, sex: whats not to like about this tv series which is now in its second season?

I watched a repeated BBC series on Henry VIII and his wives a couple of decades or more ago with my Dad and I was hooked. It was a fascinating time in history and yep, despite this series being historical fiction and not totally accurate, despite Jonathan Rhys Meyers not fitting the stereotypical image of a rotund, ginger haired Henry VIII, I am liking his portrayal of the monarch. He does arrogance and sense of entitlement brilliantly and yet you do have sympathy for the king as he appears to be manipulated by church and reformists. But his power is frightening and one time friends can be expended without much thought or regret it seems.

The support acting of Maria Doyle Kennedy as Katherine of Aragon is excellent. Her initial belief that there was no way she could be replaced as queen begins to wane and you feel her pain when her husband tries desperately to get rid of her again and again for his new love Anne Boleyn. Her steadfast commitment to her Catholic faith and the church is portrayed with quiet dignity and her popularity with the common English public of the time is something I was not aware of.

The costumes of the cast are sumptuous. The banqueting scenes are wonderful, the opulence and luxury of the court shown off.

There is something about this series that make the issues of that time seem as relevant today as they were then: corruption of the church, frustration of many with the church’s wealth, political wheeling, dealing and backstabbing for personal gain. It makes for great viewing and I, for one, am looking forward to watching the story unfold.

On Saturday myself and Fionn took ourselves off from the mayhem and into town for a couple of hours to pick up a few last minute items needed before we head on holidays this weekend.  He was in great form, we had our cafe stop which he relished, but as the time passed he got tired so we decided to head to Formative Fun in Maylor Street as I thought I’d get him a new jigsaw.

However, once inside the door of the toyshop he immediately spotted the assembled train set and could not be drawn away from it for love or money. In the end it was only my buying him a train set of his own that worked.

He hugged the box the whole way home and couldn’t wait to assemble it to show his siblings and daddy.

It’s fabulous. Really simple parts that are easy for him to put together. He can arrange and re-arrange the wooden track in many different ways, its very versatile. The ramp and soft tunnel stragetically placed at intervals.  The small train is battery run but is powerful enough to pull the three carriages and also the additional Thomas the tank engine ones that were re-discovered in our playroom and added to the fun.

He really loves it. Its robust: the tracks are manufactured from wood as is most of the train and carriage. I especially like the fact that track pieces, tunnels, bridges, cranes and more accessories can be purchased separately so that the whole ensemble can grow with him and become more intricate as he becomes more accustomed to it.

Happy days.

Was Vanessa Mae born a violin prodigy or did she become one through blood, sweat, tears and hours upon hours of practice?

By all accounts, it appears that her mother was a major force in driving her success. From the age of 4 when Vanessa began learning to play the violin, her mother urged her to strive for perfection by telling her daughter that her love was conditional on how well Vanessa played. Thus ensued an extraordinary childhood and adolescence where the violin was the most important focus.

During this programme Vanessa underwent a brain scan, personality tests, hearing exams and more. The results showed that her brain had honed the areas used when she played the violin with her normal hand but when she changed hands it was comparable to any other novice beginning to learn the instrument.

She calculated the number of hours spent practising from 4 to 16 years old and came up with a number greater than 7,000. This was expected from the expert who had studied gifted musicans and noted that they all had spent from 5,000 to 10,000 hours of practice in their youth.

So far it was looking like her talent was in the majority down to her hard work and diligence.

Then the psychologist entered. He subjected her to a range of personality tests. The conclusions drawn were that she’s an extrovert with above normal risk taking, perfectionismand thrill seeking characteristics. Her hearing was also determined to be excellent and well above average. It was discovered that her mother had the same personality characteristics as she agreed to undergo the same tests. These personality traits are apparently conducive to becoming an exceptional musican.

So it would seem that yes, her genes went a long way to making her what she is today but the hard work and dedication was also required. She ended the programme saying she thought it was probably 50/50 in the nature/nurture split of contributing to her success. She did seem saddened that her relationship with her mother wasn’t more conventional. She acknowledged the fact that she knew her mother did love her and that her drive had a huge impact on getting her to where she is careerwise, she just wished it could have been done differently.

I found the programme very interesting. As a parent, it is often difficult to know what to do for the best for your kids. Should they be encouraged and pushed towards developing a talent or should they just meander along at their own pace? It would have be very interesting if Vanessa’s estranged mother had taken part in the programme. Unfortunately she declined to do so.