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Sunday, October 4th, 2009
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Have I missed anything exciting while I've been away?
About the most thrilling thing to happen to me recently was finding a 10 Euro note in my washing. Well, I do live in Cornwall- I think excitement is illegal here...
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Comments: Read 6 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
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Thursday, December 11th, 2008
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Friday, November 14th, 2008
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Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
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Friday, October 17th, 2008
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Well, thank you (you know who you are!) for sending me this gem of Shahbaz from Big Brother 7:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RiXsW8EFugo (completely worksafe but may make you want to punch the screen a lot)
Now, I loathe the idea of Big Brother and think it's voyeuristic nonsense at best. Apart from Shahbaz. His rampant insanity really reminded me of the Pointless Ex and the way he behaved in Bourneville Lane. Reminds me (if I ever need it) of how big a bullet I dodged with that one!
Anyway, after the worst that YouTube has to offer, here's some of the best... the B52s inspired by Fellini:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VkxvxfJUn1A
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Comments: Read 12 or Add Your Own.
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Monday, September 8th, 2008
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Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
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Comment and I will:
1. Tell you why I befriended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favourite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, April 10th, 2008
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The original, if not the best. Quite a legacy he's leaving behind.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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So, in addition to reading up on the wonderful world of cancer and other cheerful topics, I've been treating myself to some good, old-fashioned (and in some cases very old-fashioned) Cult telly. If that's not your sort of thing, it's best to stop reading now. So here (for the three of you left reading), in no particular order, are my mini-reviews:
The Corridor People: Victim as Whitebait: A favourite, and one I've seen a lot of times. It's an undeservedly obscure bit of 60s spy-TV with an entertaining bizzareness that only the 60s could really get away with. And, even then, it was cancelled after just 4 episodes for being too wierd. My favourite episode is the second where the villainess Syrie Van Epp has kidnapped Robag, a scientist who can raise people from the dead. Sadly for her, Robag is a bit of a dipso- but only "a social drinker, not a solitary boozehound". Unlike any normal pisshead who'd just go to the nearest pub for a sociable drinkie, Robag reanimates a corpse to drink with. The corpse then escapes and goes back to his wife, with the obligatory hilarious concequences. Throw in a dwarf assassin, a mute Swedish film-maker, two phenomenally inept policemen and an over-amorous widow who's not quite as widowed as she'd thought and you have the makings of a little piece of telly heaven.
Doctor Who: The Time Meddler: The latest DVD release, this 4-parter from the show's second season (way back in 1965) was their first to feature a renegade Time Lord, the Monk. It was very much a fore-runner of the stories of the Seventies where history and science-fiction were mixed together. During the Sixties, stories tended to be either sci-fi or historical. In fact, apart from bits of The Dalek Masterplan and The Evil of the Daleks, this combination only happened once more in the Sixties (The Abominable Snowmen in Patrick Troughton's second year) and once in the early Seventies (The Time Meddler in Jon Pertwee's final year) before the Tom Baker era took the ball and ran with it (Talons of Weng-Chaing, Pyramids of Mars, Horror of Fang Rock etc.). It's by no means a classic, although it's perfectly enjoyable story and Hartnell gets to come out with one of his best ever lines: when the TARDIS lands on a beach in Northumbria in 1066, the crew find an abandonned Viking helmet. New companion Steven Taylor is convinced that he's still in his own time of The Future and isn't impressed with the find, to which Hartnell snaps "Well, what do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?" Other than that the story jogs along with the requisite number of captures, escapes and dangers. the high point is Peter Butterworth's performance as The Monk, a character which, sadly, only reappeared once and then it was for mainly comic relief in the mammoth Dalek Masterplan. The interplay betweek The Monk and The Doctor is a joy to watch and should convince any of the anti-Hartnell brigade that he could certainly act and the doddery, absent-minded aspect of his character was just a character that he played.
The Ruby in the Smoke: The first of the BBC's recent adaptations of Philip Pulman's Sally Lockhart mysteries, starring Billie Piper. The period costume detail is every bit as good as you'd expect and BP puts in a spirited performance as Sally, although she's a little too old now to really look the part of a twenty-year-old. Julie Walters is on sterling form as the villain of the piece. Sadly, it's a little slow and pedestrian, but still well worth a watch.
The Mind of Mr J G Reeder: The Treasure House An episode of the Thames TV series from 1969 which adapted Edgar Wallace's stories of a mild-mannered govenment crime-solver in the 1920s. Hugh Burden is superb as Mr Reeder, ably assisted by the likes of Damaris Hayman as his dotty secretary (just a couple of years before she turned up as Miss Hawthorne in The Daemons) and the sets and direction are superb. Sadly, the plot lets the production down as it's over-reliant on coincidence and not particularly logical.
The Mighty Boosh: The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox: More inspired anarchy from the funniest comedy on telly today. A joy.
Taggart: Pinnacle and Midsomer Murders: Old Flames: Run-of-the-mill offerings from two long established series. Entertaining enough but nothing to get too excited about. Both are dreadfully formulaic and regular viewers will be able to spot the murderer in each a mile off.
A For Andromeda: The recent remake, rather than the original (sadly lost, like so much British telly from the 50s and 60s). Nice enough and with a few interesting modernisations. The story is still breathtakingly original (even after being stolen wholesale by Sagan for Contact) and is a worthy successor to the remade Quatermass Experiment. It's just a pity that the next one they remade was the dreadfully anodyne Random Quest when there were so many finer missing segments of Out of the Unknown.
The Book Group: Generally regarded as the TV equivalent of a chick-flick, this is a series I love and can watch time and time again. With very little plot and cleverly drawn portraits of all the characters in the group, it's a lovely little series. It's a shame the second series wasn't quite as good but sequels rarely are.
There were others but I think I've waffled on enough about them for now. Time for a spot of Black Books.
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Comments: Read 15 or Add Your Own.
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Friday, February 29th, 2008
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...but I am still alive.
The situation is pretty much same old, same old: I'm still in Exeter (and hating it) and still studying (and loving it). The house is a bit of a nightmare just now, but that should be sorted soon.
Hope to be moving to London after the summer but that's yet to be confirmed.
I've taken today off Uni cos of lurgy. Going out to the pub last night probably wasn't the most sensible idea.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Friday, August 31st, 2007
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Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
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| Subject: | Update |
| Time: | 10:29 pm. |
| Mood: |  cheerful. | | Music: | Scaffold- Lily the Pink. |
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It's been a very long time since I updated here. Apologies and all, but it's the usual story: if you're busy doing stuff, you're too busy to write about it.
I've been home in Liverpool for the last few months and am having a wonderful time. It's a real breath of fresh air to be away from Exeter and it's been great to catch up with mates around here- thankfully the Moxx of Balhoun has not been around so there haven't been any awkward scenes. It's quite amazing to hear just how many people she's pissed off with her selfishness and drama-obsession, now that they're prepared to talk to me about her. It's a shame when I look back and think about how popular the MLG used to be before she came along and started setting people against each other. Obviously it's not the only reason for the group's decline, but it's why at least 3 or 4 of the old-timers don't go along any more.
I'm really not looking forward to heading back to Stepford in a few weeks' time. Still, it's only for another year and I can escape. The pity of it is that there are some incredibly lovely people there who I'll miss terribly, but I really cannot cope with living in the 1950s any longer. Give me a decent sized city with a bit of life about it!
In a fortnight I'm off to Venice and I can't wait. I've never been there before, or anywhere in Italy for that matter. I've heard such amazing things about the city that it should be a ton of fun. And, best of all, my wee sister is coming along so we can have a decent catch-up without one or other of us needing to drive home afterwards.
Last weekend I went to Manchester Mardi Gras. Despite all my misgivings about Gay Prides, this was great fun. It dropped a lot of the political trappings of the London Pride and concentrated on the fun bit. Sadly, I missed both Belinda Carlisle (because I didn't realise she was playing til the day after) and The Sheilas (because Merseyrail are useless), but caught Betty Boo and had a nostalgia fix from that. Sense took over however, when Gareth Gates came on stage and I fled for the nearest pub that was out of earshot. I went on 3 consecutive days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) and had 3 very different experiences. Saturday was with himself and we had a lovely, relaxed evening. Sunday was with my folks and again, we had a lot of fun, but this time my mum got a lot of attention from the gay blokes. Story of my life- any fag in sight will elbow me out of the way to chat to her. Mind, the way she looks it's possibly not a surprise. She even got her picture taken by a load of the wandering photographers (eg. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_jones/1257229630/in/set-72157601617655542/ )- again, it may not be a surprise how I turned out! Sunday I went across to catch up with a few mates, none of whom could make it sadly. Ah well, I got chatting to some entertaining lunatics and one dull, weeping drunk who wanted to tell me (a) what a sad life he'd had and (b) how much he'd like to cop off with me.
I'm sure there's other stuff that's happened but never mind. Most people probably lost interest/consciousness half a page ago...
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Comments: Read 13 or Add Your Own.
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 | You scored as Sarah Jane Smith, "Got to get the train since you blew up my car. I'd forgotten how much it cost being around you"
Sarah Jane Smith | | 83% | Mickey Smith | | 83% | Dalek | | 67% | Cyberman | | 67% | Captain Jack Harkness | | 67% | Rose Tyler | | 67% | The Doctor | | 67% | Cassandra | | 50% | Jackie Tyler | | 33% | K-9 | | 0% | </td>
Your Doctor Who character is...?
created with QuizFarm.com</tr> |
But I'd have preferred Captain Jack... but I guess being the Tin Dog and his owner at the same time's pretty good.
 | You scored as Black Guardian, A threatening bully and complete vilain I don't want to meet you
Black Guardian | | 83% | the Master | | 83% | Silurian | | 67% | The Editor | | 67% | Dalek | | 67% | Henry van Statten | | 50% | slitheen | | 50% | Lady Cassandra | | 50% | Davros' 2nd Dalek | | 50% | davros | | 33% | Cyberman | | 33% | Sontaran | | 33% | Auton | | 0% | </td>
what doctor who vilain are you?
created with QuizFarm.com |
Woo-hoo. Shame the picture is the Armageddon Factor BG rather than the later one with the stuffed bird on his head, but still a good result. Especially with an extra side-order of The Master (Classic series please, not the John Sims pantomime). The Man in Black, twice over...
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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human_racer's journal
bored.
calm.
confused.
nostalgic.
sick.