I don't think it's pumpkin juice

[alexsarll]

The new Torchwood trailer is not filling me with hope, to be frank. And if Peter Capaldi is making a second Who appearance, as a government official of some sort, I want this to confirm that Malcolm Tucker is in fact a direct descendant of Caecilius from the Cambridge Latin Course. I don't know why, I just do.

Friday: renegadechic lends me a data stick the size of a packet of gum, containing multiple TV series and several films. This freaks me out not because of sleep deprivation but just because we are living in the future. Later I go to my first Poptimism at its new venue, and for the first time ever hear 'Put A Donk On It' in its alleged home setting of a club. I have planned to stay only for a couple of drinks but end up as one of the last dozen there, dancing like I'm in Queer as Folk whenever something vaguely handbag comes on. En route I am impressed by the attendance at the Critical Mass bike ride on Westminster Bridge (though is it not slightly excessive to have two bike protests on the same bridge within four days? Combining and co-ordinating them would seem more effective). I also pick up various comics including one which causes confusion among the Poptimists, and the existence of which I admit I find baffling: This Is A Souvenir, a series of short comic stories inspired by the music of Spearmint. The best of which - the Phonogram one - turns on a misheard lyric. It shouldn't exist, but it makes me happy that it does.

Saturday's mass of cyclists didn't disrupt my progress, but on Saturday I am glad I left far too much time to get to my coach, because the Victoria line is shut and the army are blocking roads between there and Green Park for their parade. I didn't even know we had that many cavalry anymore! Or gun carriages - what do you use a gun carriage for in the 21st century? Anyway, make it to Brighton in plenty of time to see the Pier and the Pavillion, neither of which I have ever encountered before having always been up near the crumbling West Pier, because I am 1 x goth. The Pavillion turns out also to be the site of simon_price's wedding (we are only along for the reception) so we admire the new Mrs Price's quite astonishing dress, and then meet a dog in a tie called Rufus. He wasn't anything to do with the wedding, he just ruled. As does Brighton generally, in spite of all the bad ink; for some reason East Sussex seems to have an unusually high proportion of pretty girls. Or maybe it's just that because they're near the sea, they tend to wear less, and I am an easily-distracted male.
At the reception, when I am not dancing, or falling asleep and then claiming that I was just "bored", I am mainly introducing people off the internet to each other's faces. It is great fun. Later we take gin to the beach, and meet randoms.

I do not see much of Sunday, but make it out again for missfrancesca's birthday and associated jollity. Yesterday, because I wanted to get caught up with the Harry Potter films before the new one and vivid_blue wuvs blokey from Twilight, she hosted a viewing of Goblet of Fire. The films really do improve as they go along, don't they? There's some savage cutting, to the extent that eg Snape barely does anything in this one, but that's a good thing - by being forced to reconfigure the story, it becomes more a film and less a theme-park ride connecting key scenes from the book. Also, I dread to think how much fanfic was launched by the bit where David Tennant licks Alan Rickman's wand.

Comments

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe you did not steal me either Rufus or the penny farthing despite me asking politely. Worst. Friend. Ever.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I told you, Rufus was too clever to be stolen! And I do not trust your sense of balance on a penny farthing.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

If he is clever he would love me. He could be Gin's friend (I actually tricked Airhead into saying that Gin is revolting on Sunday. Oh yes!)

I could wear a tophat and tails and go to work on it!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

While that would be adorable, it should only be attempted in safe environments, not modern London roads.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

the top gear airplane hanger? *wide eyes*

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

You would not go to work then, you would just chase James May.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

That's almost as innovative an AIDS treatment as beetroot and garlic! Yeah, and they also do the naked cycle ride here sometimes. That one I wouldn't want to see, not just because some of the people will be unpretty, but because even with pretty people there's just too much potential for things to go wrong.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

A little from column A, a little from column B. Heh heh, 'column'.

I used to cycle as a child, on quiet roads. That was fun. The idea of doing it through London? Not until I have a portable force field, matey.

a cyclist sez...

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

I'd rather cycle in London where people are used to commuters than in a smaller city where they aren't! I have had a bike in London for about hmm 1.5 yrs? and am not dead yet :D

Re: a cyclist sez...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Really? The driving here is so bad that I wouldn't much want to drive, either - I prefer either being in a bus, which is big enough to get its own way, or on foot where I can dive out of the way of things...

Re: a cyclist sez...

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

Because traffic is so bad, it makes me love my bike even more! When I filter through it, anyway :D Also, I guess I was kind of thinking of cycling in say, Appleton WI: drivers aren't used to seeing commuter bikes, there is no such thing as bike lanes (or indeed bus lanes) - a hell of a lot more dangerous than London traffic, IMO.

[bremxjones.livejournal.com]

I totally only realised I'd fucked up about 3 weeks back. Shush!

KG

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I know and love the song, and when I first saw the preview of the strip, I just thought 'Yes!' Same when I first read it in the collection. It was only looking back at the lyrics now helpfully printed alongside that I realised something was amiss.

Next order of business is clearly a Manics comic with a story about someone who tans well - I Bronze My Thighs Easily.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, I must have this Spearmint comic. I loved Put The Book Back On The Shelf, and I heart Spearmint big-time, and like you I'd never have expected something like that to come into existence.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The only disappointment is that the 'Meet Mr Marsden' strip does not in fact feature rhodri.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

It always did in my head...

I've ordered it from my local comic shop. Though whether they'll remember to actually get it is another matter, as they're a bit shambolic.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I am so lucky to have spent my whole comic buying life with access at any time to one of the two best comic shops in Britain.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

The eternal tragedy of Spearmint for me is that Oklahoma!, which is far and away my favourite album of theirs, was some of kind of critical and/or commercial flop, and so they moved off in a different direction. Oklahoma! would have made an amazing comic book anthology, come on: a singing homeless black cowboy walking around a Yorkshire town peering into people's windows and telling the stories he sees there.

I should download some more recent Spearmint, see what they've been up to lately...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The anthology does have a homeless black cowboy story, you know...

Was it any more of a flop than all other Spearmint albums? Except in so far as christmas albums are always pretty niche.