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Rocketman
In the opening scenes of Rocketman, Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John biopic, we get our first sight of Elton (a standout, thoroughly immersive performance from Taron Egerton) making a theatrical entrance into a group therapy session. He is coming direct, we are obviously intended to assume, from the stage still sporting his characteristically over-the-top performance garb as a mock ‘devil’ complete with detachable horns. The early 90s therapy session serves as a framing device for the entire film, wherein Elton takes us through key episodes in his life, interacts with his younger self, and both literally and metaphorically strips away the layers of his ostentatious stage persona to eventually lay his complicated psyche bare. To its credit, the film does not shy away from the darker, more problematic aspects of Elton’s story, namely the damage wrought by years of substance abuse, dysfunctional relationships and celebrity monomania.
Despite an unsparing depiction of these darker elements, Fletcher paints his canvas overwhelmingly in lighter hues. In this endeavour he is helped by having access to exploit Elton’s extraordinary back catalogue, studded as it is with some of the most familiar tunes of the latter twentieth century. Key events in Elton’s life and career are played out against a soundtrack of his most instantly recognisable hits. Among the standout sequences are an exuberant, Broadway-style rendition of “Saturday Night’s Alright for a Fight” performed as an adolescent Elton and his fellow performers make musical progress through a London pub and a neighbouring 50s era fun fair. Elton’s famous American debut at The Troubadour in Los Angeles is presented via an exhilarating, literally transcendent version of “Crocodile Rock” with no small amount of dramatic licence. But possibly the most convincing and most affecting mix of soundtrack and dramatic recreation is in the use of the poignant “Tiny Dancer”, performed by Elton and his erstwhile collaborator Bernie Taupin (an excellent Jamie Bell) at a louche LA party where a Elton wistfully witnesses a liaison between Taupin and the woman who would, supposedly, be immortalised in the song’s lyrics. Elton, meanwhile, is being seduced by his soon-to-be lover and manager John Reid, played with a beguiling mix of charm and unctuousness by Richard Madden.
Despite its willingness to venture into the darker detours of Elton’s improbable journey, Fletcher’s film ultimately comes across as a celebration. Doubtless, this is because unlike so many of his pop industry peers (as witnessed by the fate of Freddie Mercury in Fletcher’s recent companion piece Bohemian Rhapsody) Elton’s story has a redemptive narrative arc, as he has apparently arrived in the safe harbour of a clean and sober lifestyle and a stable, loving relationship in his late middle age. In this light, the late elaborate staging of “I’m Still Standing” seems particularly apposite. This is obviously a welcome development for Elton himself, but at the same time provides much less compelling fare for a biopic, which helps to explain why the film’s narrative ends quite abruptly in the early nineties. Nonetheless, Fletcher’s film is immensely accomplished, directed with considerable flair and imagination, and gives the viewer an engaging and very watchable nostalgic tour through one of the more remarkable careers in popular music.
Flash Fill: Data Extraction in MS Excel
In its most recent iterations, Microsoft Excel has changed only minimally, at least as far as the average user is concerned. Microsoft have only added a few ‘bells and whistles’ to the familiar interface, which have not changed the user’s experience in any fundamental way. However, one particularly useful enhancement was added to the 2013 version to make the challenge of data extraction both simpler and more intuitive.
Imagine that you are called upon to work with and manage a dataset in an Excel spreadsheet that contains a series of individual names, be they employees, clients, stakeholders or what have you. The names are contained within a single column, with each consecutive cell containing both the first and last name of the individual concerned, as in the example below:
The problem here lies in the difficulty involved in trying to manage and analyse data in this configuration. For example, if you want to sort these records in order of the last name, there is no simple way to accomplish this. With the first and last names combined in the same column in this way, life is much more difficult when it comes to the manipulation and meaningful interpretation of these records. You really need to separate the first and last names into separate distinct columns to provide you with the flexibility needed in order to facilitate the greater manipulation you desire.
There exist two obvious ways to achieve this.
- There has long been a feature in Excel called Text to Columns, found a little more than ½ way along the Data ribbon, which exists for the sole purpose of dividing single columns of text into multiple columns of text. This can do the job well, but it requires the user to navigate their way through a series of screens in a wizard to achieve the desired outcome.
- You can undertake an exhaustive (and quite possibly exhausting) cut and paste operation to create the separate columns as required. The obvious problem with this is that you may have a significant list of, for example, 100 (or more) names; going the cut-and-paste route could be tedious and long-winded in the extreme.
There must be a better way to achieve this kind of data extraction in a simpler and more intuitive way. Happily, from the 2013 version onwards, there is.
If you go to a blank column adjacent to the list of names and enter a copy of the first name (insert a new blank column if necessary), you can then use the Fill Handle i.e. the little green square in the lower right corner of the cell to copy this name down to the rest of the cells in the column below. The use of the fill handle in this way will simply copy the contents of the original cell, which is obviously not what you want.
However, if you immediately activate the Autofill Options menu that will appear in the lower right corner of your destination range, you will see that the last choice at the foot of this menu is called Flash Fill. If you choose this command, Excel will then produce a list of names from the same relative location in the source column, as in the example below:
Flash Fill can also be found in an alternative location on the immediate right of Text to Columns, in the Data Tools group on the Data tab. The only possible complication with this method of data extraction is the circumstance that the data in the source column does not all conform to the exact same pattern. The example that I’ve used so far assumes that each cell in the source contains the first name at the start followed by the last name with a space separating the names. If one or more of the names doesn’t follow the same pattern, Flash Fill is not clever enough to cope with that situation and will not produce a result for these names as intended; you may find that you will be left with a blank row in this location.
However, by and large Flash Fill is a useful addition to the Excel repertoire, and can provide a much simpler and more efficient means of extracting data across a range of different scenarios. For example, it is often used to extract the individual elements from an address field and hence create separate columns for street, suburb, state, postcode et al. This example described here merely skims the surface of the applications of Flash Fill in Excel: it can be a most versatile and flexible element in your spreadsheet toolkit.
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Repeating Heading Rows in a Long MS Word Table
From the very beginning, Word users have had the ability to create tables in their documents to easily organise information in neatly aligned rows and columns. Word tables can also be easily modified, if you need to add or delete rows or columns as your document evolves. You can find all of these actions readily available on the left of the Layout tab attached to the Table Tools at the top-right of the screen. (These actions are also available on the right-click menu when your cursor is positioned anywhere within your table.) Indeed, if all you seek is to add a new row on the end of your table, all you need to do is to position your cursor in the last cell of your table’s last row and then press the Tab key. Your table will immediately grow by one row.
However, you might find a problem emerges if your table needs to extend beyond one page, as might be the case with a longer catalogue or phone listing. As you table extends to a greater length, you may find that most of your table is lacking the context that is provided by the headings on your first row, as in the example below:
| First Name | Last Name | Department | Position | Start Date |
| Hugh | Twelftree | Administration | Accountant | 22/3/2015 |
| Carol | Wellings | Marketing | Director | 18/5/2017 |
| Kim | Magnussen | Production | Manager | 27/10/18 |
As your table extends over two, three or more pages, you will inevitably leave behind the headings in your first row on the table’s first page. What you need is to be able to have the same headings in the first row of your table on each successive page, so that you are able to meaningfully interpret your table data on whatever page you are viewing it. The obvious way of achieving this is to simply copy and paste the headings from the beginning of the table to the first row of the table on each following page.
But the drawbacks to this solution are also obvious. It would be tedious and time-consuming to do this in a long table that might run across numerous pages. And it also becomes problematic if you subsequently add or delete rows to your table, after you have pasted your headings to the appropriate new location. If you do modify your table in this way, it will inevitably mean that your headings will move around and will be out of place.
Happily, there is a better, faster and much more elegant solution. You can create and build your table to whatever length you need or wish. Then, just position your cursor anywhere in your table’s heading row. Go to the Layout ribbon at the top-right of the Word screen and select Repeat Header Rows. As a result, the first row of your table on each page will always display the same headings. And this will continue be the case, even after you add or delete rows to your table as your document evolves; there will be no need to modify your table to retain your headings in the right location. Of course, if you have greater ambitions for your table, particularly if your table is intended to contain numerical data and calculations, then maybe a better choicewould be an Excel spreadsheet. There is a strong argument to be made for using each member of the Microsoft family according to its strength, and for any task involving numbers and mathematics, Excel is really your go-to option Explore this option starting here.
