It's always summer in the songs

[alexsarll]

If you'd told me two months ago that I'd be in Kilburn, watching Scritti Politti (with a line-up featuring rhodri) covering Jeru the Damaja, I'd have been surprised. I probably wouldn't have disbelieved you, because I'll believe most anything these days. But I would have been surprised. Though likely not half so surprised as rhodri would have been if you'd told him, of course.
I'd expected the Luminaire to be a back-room-of-pub job, but it's surprisingly lush - all red drapes and leather sofas, like nightclubs look in TV shows. Shortfly after I've mentioned this to oneofthose, and said that it makes me half-expect a bad Marc Bolan impersonator to show up, T Rex starts playing - which is especially spooky given the rest of the between-bands music is ska. The first act on is initially amusing - she's Bonnie Tyler on a bad day covering Tori Amos with more daddy issues. After the fourth song, though, it stops being funny. cappuccino_kid suggests that she's not 4 Real but a genius of character comedy - but then if memory serves he liked Tony Ferrino too. Wet Dog are up next, and while they're very 1979, they do gradually grow on me - not necessarily something I'd listen to at home, but at least a little unusual. It's during their set that I realise quite how full the venue is with people I know, and indeed quite how full generally, to the extent that I'm sure I see Nicholas Passant but don't actually get chance to make contact, and don't even spot the allegedly present dafinki.
Scritti are...strange. Green no longer looks like kin to Dr Robert and The Good Paul Weller, but then nor do they anymore. Now he looks and talks like the first guy to get killed in a heist movie. But when he starts singing, it's still the exact same voice. And though he suggests we treat it all as an open rehearsal, and it is rather stop-start, and these are new songs I don't know, I think they're a lot more instant than Anomie and Bonhomie was, so he's clearly still got the same ear for a tune, or at least an ear that's different but as good.
Stay Beautiful was even more fun, but that was very much in spite of the band. Really, what was the point of them?

Most impressed with The IT Crowd - and unlike my regrettably positive initial reaction to Hyperdrive, I'm sure I was sober this time. It's not reinventing the sitcom, it's not even quite as funny as Black Books, but that still leaves it far funnier than 99% of sitcoms, especially when the infallible Chris Morris is on screen. Similarly, Belle de Jour is not the best book ever written, nor even particularly shocking, but it's a pleasant enough light read, and I really needes something to cleanse the palate, a short book in which nobody dies.

"They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers,". Well, it's certainly an answer, isn't it? Still, good to see some of our politicians finally taking a sane stand, with both Labour and Conservative MPs calling for arrests of some protesters over those despicable placards, and the police seemingly in accord. Even the Guardian managed a fairly sensible leader, though their news pages rather let them down: "They wanted the paper prosecuted. The PM gave them the brush-off, arguing that his government could not interfere with the right to free speech." Well, no, what you've done there is confuse 'polite expression of the only legitimate response' with 'the brush-off'. Though Jyllands-Posten also seem a little confused - "We apologised for hurting the feelings of a lot of Muslims in this. But we don't apologise for printing the cartoons." As well say "We apologise for hurting that man. But we don't apologise for pointing a gun at him and then pulling the trigger." Particularly amusing was the reaction of some Saudi minister/princeling or other, who called on the Vatican to halt publication of the cartoons. Yeah, like we needed any more evidence that you're about six centuries behind. Though of course the Vatican has condemned the cartoons - who can blame them? Bet they'd love to claw back the power that Saudi thought they had.
Tariq Ramadan says "In Islam, representations of all prophets are strictly forbidden. It is both a matter of the fundamental respect due to them and a principle of faith requiring that, in order to avoid any idolatrous temptations, God and the prophets never be represented. Hence, to represent a prophet is a grave transgression." Those other prophets including, of course, the ones Christians and Jews worship and depict. So if we're going to be 'respectful' and all play by Islam's rules, like some people craving 'compromise' would like, that means another spate of iconoclasm in the churches too, and burning all those religious epics on celluloid too. Over to al Qaida's number two: "We are in a battle," Zawahiri counselled, "and more than half of it is taking place in the battlefield of the media." Which is why we must never cede that battlefield, ever.
Anyway, trust an old Pembroke alumnus to come up with the first actually funny cartoon in all this.

That Maxim ad, where the two men pretend to gay up to get rid of their girlfriends? Somebody's grasp of female psychology is deeply outdated. But then, I suppose we are talking about Maxim.

Let's say you're walking along a beach, and you happen across a message in a bottle - you'd be excited, wouldn't you? That something like that still happens, and that you've just found one! Unless you're this joyless sod, who instead decided to write and tell the sender off for littering.

Comments

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Most impressed with The IT Crowd

You are the only person who has said this. Truly, you are the new me and it is the new 2PL1PC i.e. STOP STEALING MY LIFE.

Agree again, obviously, on the cartoons. Was rather depressed at the number of fifth columnists on LJ over the weekend. Oh well.

[myfirstkitchen.livejournal.com]

I liked it a lot too, which probably confirms your theory.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Shut up, I've been loving underappreciated sitcoms since at least Paris! Anyway, the V all watched it ahead of time on download, and I was under the impression that opinion was split pretty evenly.

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

Dear publicansdecoy

Thank you for your email concerning the BBC's coverage of the row over the
cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. We have received a very wide range of
reaction to this and the BBC has given very careful consideration to the
issues it raises.

The reporting of this news raised a number of editorial dilemmas for BBC
coverage on both television and our website. In response, Peter Horrocks,
Editor of TV News and Steve Herrmann, Editor of BBC News Interactive have
explained in detail how the BBC has approached the reporting of this issue.
The BBC's Controller of Editorial Policy, David Jordan, has also responded
to the reaction.

We have published their responses in full and you can read them on the BBC
NewsWatch website, which you can find at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/

Thank you for contacting us with your views on this matter.

Yours sincerely

BBC Information

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Since Jerry Springer the Opera I've given up on messages of support, lest those too be mistaken for further complaints and I end up inadvertently bolstering the enemy's numbers.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Crikey, I'd forgotten about that - Jesus is 1x big old prophet in Islam, innit? I wonder what the Islamic extremists would make of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

I missed the IT Crowd. Was Chris Morris any good in it?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I don't know why they didn't include him on the trailers, he was the element raising it from 'pretty good' to 'not far off great'.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

If those cartoons had been about Jesus they would have been in every British newspaper by now, and would probably have been drawn by someone with an Arts Council grant.

[capitalflash.livejournal.com]

*splutters at the cartoon* finally! a funny cartoon! those original ones were appalling!

i didn't watch the band with the emo name. a friend once kissed the lead singer at sb. i'm going to have a good laugh at her now. instead, i played on the lotr pinball machine. i reccomend it highly. you get to bash the balrog and everything.

bash the balrog

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Could that sound any more like a euphemism?

They were quite possibly the worst band SB's had, and certainly the most inexplicable given they're not only rubbish, but total no-marks.

[thermaland.livejournal.com]

The bottle thing made me giggle.

The IT crowd made me laugh out loud. It's a bit crude and predictable, like Father Ted, but very funny.

Sean has posted me a link to this: http://muttawa.blogspot.com/ which is a very good blog on That Issue. Dunno if I believe the writer is really Saudi though, but you never know.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yeah, someone directed me to that last week. Certainly a better effort than Eye On Gay Muslims, to which I was anonymously directed in a comment on last Monday's post.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I liked the IT crowd and Michael, as an IT geek, albeit in a totally different type of company, liked it as well.

Although I prefered the 'Sean' character (can't remeber his name) while Michael prefered the other one.

Jen or whatever her name was annoyed me because I am a woman and I am not shoe obcessed probably... and those shoes were not that great anyway....

And I know of a major investment bank where the lifts don't stop on the IT floor, leaving the IT people to leave one floor above or below and take the stairs. Maybe not to bother the important traders with the lift stopping for IT people when they could be going quickly to their desks to make money... or IT people smell
;-)

the 'Sean' character (can't remeber his name)

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think on LJ that is his name.

and those shoes were not that great anyway....

Precisely.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

But...that would be the worst possible way to get rid of almost any girl I know!

If The IT Crowd was entirely about IT, it would have crashed and burned with the general public - and there were enough little touches, like the Flying Spaghetti Monster picture, that I was convinced they probably know their stuff. Besides, it's not as if Father Ted was all about religion.
(And I think FT's a better comparison than Darkplace, in that it's not meant to be actively *bad*, but it does want you always to remember that this is a sitcom and playing by sitcom rules)

[jimyojimbo.livejournal.com]

The acting was intentionally bad wasn't it? Like Darkplace (to make an obvious and lazy comparison).

Did you think so? I thought the whole thing was set-up to be Father ted-esque silliness, but there wasn't the interplay between the actors, so it all ended up "I'll say my line, you say yours".

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

This whole stupid people being stupid about Islam thing is making me want to cry.

There was a little girl in a I <3 Al Qaieda (sp?) hat, I mean WTF??? *livid*

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

OK, now I *really* want one of the Nuke Mecca Now t-shirts suggested in a comment on Friday's post.
(Though actually, I'd much prefer to reinstall the old gods Mohammed evicted from the Ka'aba)

He's not the prophet, he's a very naughty boy!

[innerbrat]

Am tempted to collect a bunch of 'offensive' portrayals of J.H.C. and alter them to Muhammed, just to piss off a lot of people make a point.

OR, y'know, because I really want to black up the Buddy Christ.

It's because I'm in gobsmacked mode still.

Friday night text exchange

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

"Are you calling the prophet's pint a poof?"
"No, I'm calling his mum's pint a poof, and the slag loves it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_moggy_/]

Dafinki didn't go in the end. I did though, I was there with Slackhack and I chatted to Tim but I didn't see you.

Dafinki didn't go in the end.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Ah, I thought it odd that I didn't spot her, her normally being pretty noticeable! I was mostly on the benches by the bar, until Scritti were on - I saw slackhack + sling with someone I thought might be you up ahead at one point, but by the time I moved you were both elsewhere.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Those other prophets including, of course, the ones Christians and Jews worship and depict

Ooh no, we don't worship prophets (insert your own Jews/profits joke here) we just, erm, think they rock or something. Worshipping a prophet would itself be idolatrous.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Sorry, could have been clearer there - I meant that Jesus, whom the christians worship (and depict), is considered a prophet by Islam.

re first support

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

found this after a quick google Sunday afternoon - an amusing read

Re: re first support

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yuk, that's even worse than your verbal summary made it sound! I think I agree with that whole article except "I bear Scattergood absolutely no ill will".

[augstone.livejournal.com]

i really like luminaire. it was right down the street from where i used to live. always thought it would be a good place to have a club night.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see that working. I'm not sure their license runs past midnight - but then, if you're doing something so far flung that might not be a bad thing.

[cappuccino-kid.livejournal.com]

I liked Tony Ferrino? Where did you get that from?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I remember you saying it once, but it's more than probable that you were just being a contrarian, as per u.