Sport: Chris Gayle's first love is still cricket....for now

It often seems that Chris Gayle is tone between actually playing cricket and being a celebrity who plays cricket.

His exploits on the cricket pitch are fast entering the realm of legend, much like that other famous Jamaican athlete, - you know, the guy who runs? But, along the way, just like his track star compatriot, Gayle has had his share of publicity flaps and flops. Arguably, none will live longer in infamy (or maybe now in hashtag-land) than "Don't blush baby" the casual cap to a seemingly awkward attempt to coax Australian TV journalist Mel McLaughlin to join him post-game for dinner and a few drinks, during an on-air interview.

The incident made international headlines beyond the cricketing world and cost Gayle a fairly hefty $10,000 in fines from his local Aussie t20 club, the Renegades.

he has since shrugged off the whole brouhaha (the latest in a line which included him reportedly dropping his towel in a dressing room before another female reporter and boasting about his "big bat").

The West Indies batting star is apparently comfortable to move into another sphere of public life: memoirist. His life tome had its Jamaican launch at the expected place - his Triple Century Sports bar and Grill in the heart of the New Kingston business district.

The title?: "Six Machine" (clearly with apologies to the late James Brown, and the declaratory sub-title, "I Don't Like Cricket...I Love It".

Clearly not as much as having a party - and the man of the hour was suitably outstanding in white wihte shirt with black trim, tomato-red trousers and black shoeswith matching red trim. try ignoring him.

of course media reps ran through the expected raft of interviews and some got their books signed (distributor Novelty Trading, which runs the venerable Bookland store a few doors up the road, was on hand to handle the supply and sales, and patrons hungry for the sports highlights of the day could feat their eyes on the lounges multiple screen - that is, after the big man got through with his presentation.

Gayle, who spenthte summer playing T20 in the UK, among other things, is apparently in recuperation mode at present, but expects to beck on the pitch to put his big bat (and useful spin) into play, what with a number of international cricket engagements on his ever-expanding plate.

A Little Gem from Down Under: The Hard Word

For those of us largely fed on myopic Hollywood fare, this 2002 gem from Australia is a rare and welcome treat. That fact that it effortlessly blends a bunch of conventional genres (heist thriller, prison drama, social commentary, psychological exercise) without tiring the viewer is further to its credit.

Three brothers, Dale (Guy Pearce), Shane (joel Edgerton) and Mal (Damien Richardson) are mysteriously sprung from jail on the orders of the state governor. Their new-found freedom procvesto be short-lived however, and they discover that they are pawns in a game of greed and deception (what else?) that also involves Dale's wife (Rachel Griffith) and a crooked lawyer (more on him later.)

First-time director Scott Roberts shows a deft hand in bringing his own script to life. Both violence and a considerable level of raunch are delivered without the lurid edge that often attends the features from the big-budget guys. Its almost done matter-of-fact.... almost.

The cast is superb, but three really stand out. Pearce, as the unofficial but unquestioned leader is the kind of career criminal to almost give the "profession" a good name; he blends gut instinct with literary appreciation and accepts that violence is a part of his chosen life, but without courting it. Griffith, as his wife Carol, is equally smart, feisty, and strong-willed and guided by her own moral compass, which entails sleeping with Frank (Robert Taylor), the greedy and amoral lawyer and fixer who's been stringing everybody along for his own ends. The few scenes in which the three of them are together are really priceless.  

By film's end, everyone has pretty much gotten what's coming to them, and at the risk of giving the final scene away, I'll say that if you're looking for any signs of reform amongst the brothers, you'd best look elsewhere, like to the skies. If you're looking for a smart, taut, pull-no-punches thriller, then look Down Under. This one's it.

West Indies Cricket in the Crucible: FIRE IN BABYLON Official Trailer - In Cinemas May 20

It might not immediately resonate with despondent Windies cricket fans, but the two-decade dynasty that the great West Indies teams of the late 70s through the early 90s  was forged in the cauldron of Australian pace bowling and the ashes (no pun intended) of a thrashing at the hands of the Aussies in 1975.

After that fateful test new captain Clive Lloyd set out to overhaul the team and, essentially, fight fire with fire. Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and - later Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose, combined with the potent and intrepid batting attack of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, the aforementioned Lloyd and Vivian "Master Blaster" Richards  to put the "fire" of the film's title on, first, the English, and then, the Australians in the supreme grudge match.

For its portrayal of the above only, "Fire On Babylon" is a worthy addition to sporting film lore. But the production teams behind award-winning features like "The Last King of Scotland" and "Restrepo" has much more on their minds than just a cricket highlight reel. The ascendancy of the West Indies is set against and paralleled by the socio-political forces of the day, including the rise of Afro-consciousness, the fight against apartheid and against racism in general, and the concurrent threads of Caribbean musical expression - reggae in particular - which were also attracting global attention.

All these elements are skillfully and wittily blended by writer-director Stevan Riley, who has everyone giving input, from Sabina Park groundsmen to last-standing Wailer Bunny "Jah B" Livingstone to the cricketers themselves - notably Richards and Holding, who each speak poignantly about resisting the temptation to go on the ill-fated and controversial "Rebel Tour" of then apartheid South Africa in the early 80s.

The bottom line is you don't even have to like cricket to enjoy Fire In Babylon, although a newfound appreciation for the game could well be a product of viewing it. Telecoms giant Digicel, which recently hosted a Kingston premiere, are certainly hoping for that and other positive effects as a prelude to the home series against Pakistan and India this summer.

God Save The Ozzies: The Kings Speech Trailer 2010 HD

It's not a small irony that a film about an English king is nearly stolen by one Australian actor and ably supported by another (although the latter, Guy Pearce, in a delicious twist, was actually British-born). Even more so given the open antipathy expressed by said king (George VI) towards said Australians.

That aside, King's Speech is an earnest, well-acted, immaculately filmed, often amusing representation of both the individual and collective trials of the early half of the 20th Century, particularly from the viewpoint of the monarchy. As the then price's father ,George V, says ruefully on noting the increased encroachment of media in the lives the royals, "We've been reduced to that very lowest rung of society....we've become actors."

The details of this particular drama - notwithstanding the debate about George VI's stance towards Hitler and Nazism - are fairly well known. Even before  his ascension to the British throne by virtue of the abdication of his brother Edward VIII (Pearce) George, referred in part by his given first name of Albert, is somewhat desperate seeking therapy to correct his severe stammer.

That search, largely handled by his wife Elizabeth (later to be known as the Queen Mother, not to be confused with current monarch Elizabeth II), played with an intriguing delicacy by Helena Bonham-Carter, leads them to Lionel Logue, frustrated Shakespearean actor and - as we later learn - counselor to shell-shocked Ozzie soldiers during the First World War.

Logue's unconventional style and reliance on informality (he immediately calls the prince "Bertie" without any leave or remorse) throw off the royal couple at first but, as is inevitably the case, one can't argue with the results. what then ensues is a combination of speech therapy and mental therapy, with both characters gradually revealing more of themselves , building up to the film's momentous climax, the wartime speech of the title.

Firth is excellent of course, retaining both the humanity and the imperious dignity of the character with no apparent effort. But he should be thankful that the role of Logue was not classified as a co-lead, otherwise he'd have serious competition for the Oscar (Rush, of course, is up for Best supporting Actor). Rush is super lative in every frame that he's in, at once a deferential and reluctant hero and a brash, egotistical showman.

However valid the concerns about historical accuracy, The King's Speech is a narrative and photoplay that can be enjoyed on their own merits. As far as well-intentioned, superbly played period pieces go, its this year's model, and that's all it needs be.