Peregrine Winter

Johnny Winter is an albino blues guitarist from Texas. Texas is a fairly tolerant place, but I can only imagine the difficult childhood (if only trying to keep out of the scorching sun) Johnny must have had. His success is, I believe, in part, a response to his condition and his uniqueness.

In a similar way, apart from obvious cultural or social influences, the name one chooses for a child can profoundly affect their future development.
The psychosocial affects of being called John and the implication that you'll meet many other Johns in your lifetime and possibly share classrooms, lectures, offices etc are marked in comparison with someone who has a more unusual name.
I have only ever met one other Cliff in my life and I think that has affected me and (although only slightly) given me a kind of uniqueness that I can take pride in.
I know there are many famous and worthy people who share names with many others, however if one is to give one's children the best chance of success (whatever that means) in their lives then choosing an unusual name is the best approach. How unusual to go is the next question and leads to mental turmoil between parents the world over who can't decide between Tarquin and Rainbow. I once worked with a fellow called Rainbow, which highlights one of the problems of having an unusual name: sometimes it can cause more hassle and be downright problematic.
So it seems there is a balance which needs to be struck between a name that is unusual, but also fairly well known. Cliff fits the bill on that score and I thank my parents for it. The name Max also fits.

Of course there are many factors that contribute to someone's life, but a name can have more of an affect that most people think.

Moving pictures

Some of my favourite films are (in the order they come out of my head):
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Groundhog day
2001, a space odyssey
A fistful of dollars
For a few dollars more
Once upon a time in the west
The hairdresser's husband
The Star Wars sexology
Lamb (Liam Neeson)
AI (mostly for the end sequence)
Cross of iron
Woodstock
Apocalypse now
Spinal Tap
Wings of desire
Until the end of the world
King pin
The thing
Being John Malkovich
Gladiator
Spartacus
Local hero
The shawshank redemption
Raiders of the lost ark
Back to the future
The usual suspects
The passion of the Christ
Citizen Kane
The silence of the lambs
Fight club
It's a wonderful life
The matrix
Taxi driver
Leon
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
Alien
Life of Brian
Monty Python and the holy grail
Das Boot
Forrest Gump
The Terminator
The Predator
The sting
The elephant man
Blade runner
Le diner de cons
Children of men
Ben Hur
Twelve monkeys
Ai no corrida
Sleuth
In the heat of the night
Sleeper
Bananas
The world, the flesh and the devil
Shine
Casablanca
Alphaville
The fly
Akira
Lawrence of arabia
Bridge on the river kwai
Ninotchka
The game
Annie Hall
The magnificent seven
North by northwest
Jaws
Independence day (up until the humans start fighting back!)
The sound of music
Little big man
Jurassic park
Shane
The kid
Angels with dirty faces
Get carter
Pulp
Time bandits
Good morning vietnam
The dead zone
Theatre of blood
The man who fell to earth
L'Atalante
Fahrenheit 451
Les Valseuses
Henry portrait of a serial killer
Man bites dog
Zabriskie point
First blood
Enter the dragon
Nosferatu
Twins
Flash Gordon
War of the worlds (1960s)
Planet of the apes
Tron
Rocky
The naked gun
Wayne's world
Greystoke: tyhe legend of tarzan
Twister (1989)
Trust (Hartley)
The unbelievable truth (Hartley)
Serpico
The godfather
Contact
The dream team (1989)
Money movers
Ghost dog: the way of the samurai
An american werewolf in london
Flaming creatures
Je t'aime moi non plus
Diva


There are indubitably more than this, but that's enough for now.