Summer! (take two)

[alexsarll]

Spent Thursday evening sat in friends' garden until gone 10 and a fair amount of Friday reading in the park, then yesterday there again for a pleasingly languid picnic interrupted by one attempt at skipping, which I'm sure didn't used to feel so terrifying, but then that was about 20 years ago when my legs weren't so long and easily caught. Also my first ice cream of the year, except it turns out there age hasn't changed so much, and I still get the sauce down my front. Other weekend activities: Nuisance, which in amongst the beloved and the half-forgotten and the not-really-Britpop-but-it's-ace-so-who's-counting*, once again managed to redefine 'going too far' with an airing for Kula Shaker's 'Mystical Machine Gun'. Just as the Beatles' 'All You Need Is Love' is justified by its use in the final episode of The Prisoner without in any way being redeemed, so with 'Mystical Machine Gun' and Phonogram. Not that even 'Mystical Machine Gun' is as bad as 'All You Need Is Love', obviously. Nothing is.
Still, good night otherwise. Also, one of the Monarch's bouncers talks like a Mexican Darth Vader. Brilliant.
Then on Saturday, one of my occasional forays into DJing, this time at a masked ball. Turns out I'm no worse on the decks than usual without my peripheral vision, but it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c. How Doctor Doom copes I shall never know. I was what I believe the professionals call 'back to back' with augstone. But not like that. You can probably guess who picked what.
You Make Me Want To Drink Bleach (This Is Where I Stand version) - Easyworld
Maybe - Emma Bunton
We Are The Gothic Archies
Heaven on the Seventh Floor - Paul Nicholas
Cruel Summer - Bananarama
What's Your Name - Depeche Mode
Because You're Frightened - Magazine
Cradle of Love - Billy Idol
I'm Going To Hell - The Long Blondes
Rasputin - Boney M
Close-Cropped - Luxembourg
Seven Boom Medley - Freezepop
The Fear - Lily Allen
Stereo - Pavement
Magnatron - Kenickie
This Is For Real - David Devant & his Spirit Wife
We Hate The Kids - The Indelicates
Delicious - Shampoo

Otherwise - the final Ashes to Ashes. Which reminded me a little of A Matter of Life and Death - never a bad thing - but even more so of another wartime film I once saw whose name I can never remember, where a group of people who have all had near misses on the way to the docks are on a cruise liner. Which turns out to be taking them to the next life, because they didn't have near misses after all, they died. And the chap who killed himself has to stay on the ship for however long, as a steward.
It's been obvious for ages that Keats was the Devil. I liked that they didn't give him a big speech to that effect - though part of me wonders if they wrote one then cut it; if so, I'd love to see it. I'd been sure since they all saw stars that Ray, Chris and Shaz were in the same position as Sam and Alex - but I still thought Gene was something else until five minutes in to Friday's episode, when it hit me, no, he's 6602 and he was the first. But as against the shows built around a mystery which allow the mystery to become all, LoM/AtA knew that they were only one strand of what kept us watching, so I was no less gripped by seeing the exact details of how it would play out. And how wonderfully well it did. I was a little sad that we only got Nelson coming out of the Railway at the end - no glimpse of Sam, not even an overheard voice - but the pub as Heaven! Whether they were consciously referencing GK Chesterton or Arthur Machen's gloss on Dickens, I have no idea. If they weren't, and it's just an idea lurking in the British collective unconscious, that's almost better. Some people see Gene's position at the end as tragic, which I don't think is how it's intended. He's a copper. He's got a job to do. He's OK with that, because it's not as if the pub is going anywhere. Wonderful.

On the other hand - Doctor Who. I had assumed that with Russell T Davies' departure we would also see the back of the hopeless Chris Chibnall, but no, apparently he has incriminating polaroids of Moffat too, so he doesn't just get to do one episode, he gets two! Reintroducing the Earth Reptiles! As soon as we see that he's called his Welsh village Cwmtaff, it's clear that the cluelessness and laziness we expect of Who's answer to Jeph Loeb are unimpaired, and so the episode lurches predictably from unoriginal and unconvincing jeopardy to cackhanded Issue of the Week speeches (as has been noted elsewhere - if you're doing a Middle East analogy, it might be better not to cast giant lizards as the Jews). And the redesign - ugh! So boringly human. I am of course blaming Chibnall for that, whereas all credit for the city visual at the end goes to the design team, and any good bits - the Doctor's conversation with the boy, for instance - are clearly attributable to Moffat on the final script polish. Seriously, though - eight minutes to cover an entire village with a surveillance network? That felt improbable, and since it accomplished nothing, it wasn't even an improbability which served a plot purpose. It was filler of the worst sort; you might as well just have had a chicken ride a unicycle around the church for three minutes singing 'Copacabana', that would at least have been novel.
(Who fans might also be interested to know that Radio 7 are airing a new series of Eighth Doctor stories - afraid this is the second, but I only barely caught the first myself)

*Although the ex-Menswear guest DJ did push it when he played Dolly Parton.

Comments

it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

See, that's why you want a ridiculous great big mask with proper eyeholes that actually sit uncomfortably close over your actual eye socket area, but do at least allow for a full range of vision.

Agree re: Gene at the end. Am curious: do many people care about Drake not seeing Molly again ftb dead? Because I probably ought to, being, you know, mum of a kid of similar age, but I was pretty unmoved (perhaps because I already wasn't expecting her to ever go back, but still) by that bit.

Re: it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think the key problem with Molly was that she was INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. My mum - so, y'know, also a mother - only really got into Ashes with the final series, and said this was in large part because Molly had fucked off.

Re: it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c.

[angelv.livejournal.com]

YES - I was so pleased when Molly stopped popping up all the BLOODY time in this series. Which I guess was a massive clue that Drake was dead, along with the change in the stuff she says at the beginning.

With Gene at the end, I thought there was a suggestion that it was all going to finish for him pretty soon now he realised/remembered what happened to him and had a vision of his dead self.

Re: it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

He looked a little weary when he got back to the office, but I suspect he's sagged like that a few times before - and he soon perked up when blokey started shouting about his iPhone.

Re: it's amazing how badly even a little mask affects other stuff like dancing, stairs &c.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I must say that's the only thing slightly putting me off rewatching, having to put up with the annoying little brat. Ugh, other people's kids *shudder*

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

We Are The Gothic Archies

I feel a bit guilty now as I realised it was GA but not this song, it is the one with PIP in it isn't it?

Aug played Paul Nicolas? Fuck me!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Who is Paul Nicolas anyhow?

But yes, is song with Death, Tentacles and PIP!

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

Have you not heard of google? :P

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

As I suspected, it has provided me with a big list of things he has done about which I know 0, and I was hoping for more of a personal explanation of why you and Aug know who he is.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Stop wasting my time sarll. :P

He was in 'Just Good Friends' a 1980s TV show which poor people like me watched. This is why you have not heard of him. Or you are too ancient. How Aug actually knows who PN is, is slightly beyond me even though he has explained it. PN was also in the original cast of Hair. He is punchable.

[steve586.livejournal.com]

Mama Horry LOVES Just Good Friends. It reminds me of growing up.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

My brother can quote bits of JGF. It makes me hate him. But not Mama Horry. She seems nice.

BTW: I realise now I must have met you at LYE at some point (I went to most of them) and my best friend Lizzy remembers you dancing but I just have some kind of blank.

[myfirstkitchen.livejournal.com]

Another point on which I agree with Mama Horry.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

i've often wanted to cover the JGF theme tune. if i ever form a band to play 'smoked duck' live, there will be tons of paul nicholas in the set.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Interestingly (or not), the next track on the Marc Almond album to which I was listening when I posted was called 'Just Good Friends'. Was the show at all like The Upper Hand? We watched that.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

i played 'heaven on the 7th floor' for you when i was living at haswell's. you said it was "the gayest thing you'd ever heard".

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Really? Even considering that I had not at that stage heard 'Smoked Duck' or 'ATF', it surely can't ever have seemed as gay as 'Shut Up (And Sleep With Me)'. Unless the Horse has heteronormative speakers.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

I think I’ve forgotten why an American man would know about Paul Nicholls. I like to think that you imported episodes of JGF on betamax.

[moleintheground.livejournal.com]

I don't think Jim was yer actual Satan, I think he was an envoy of same, hence the phone call to 'Dave', which angelv brilliantly pointed out meant that DAVID BOWIE IS THE DEBBIL in A2A world.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

But Life on Mars. was playing in the pub, ergo he is also God, the sneaky playing-for-both-teams wee beggar!

[myfirstkitchen.livejournal.com]

The writers say he's actual Satan.

[angelv.livejournal.com]

See link above! (or actually below)

[myfirstkitchen.livejournal.com]

Aye, I read that before (well, I read it directly on the SFX site). I also read the stuff at http://lifeofwylie.com and elsewhere.

"It seems funny to say that Ashley and I slightly differ because it sound like it’s fact and we’re differing on it, rather than the fact that we made it. But I always wrote Keats as literally being the Anti-Christ and Ashley always thought ot him not as that, because he said, ‘Why would the Anti-Christ bother with little Ray and little Shaz and little Chris?’ And I said, ‘Well, why does a blues singer get stopped by the devil on a crossroads and asked to sell his soul to be able to play the blues?’ The devil does seem to pick on individuals in lonely places. He doesn’t go after big swathes of the big people, he tends to pick on the little people. So we kind of differ on what we wanted Keats to be, really."

"At the read through for episode one, I sat down with him and I said – he knew, we told him he was basically going to be the Devil. "

[angelv.livejournal.com]

It's interesting how even the show's creators have slightly different ideas about the characters and what they represent.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yes. I also love the line about endings and seeing them coming, and how "the best M Night Shyamalan films are based around that. And the worst ones aren’t.”

[angelv.livejournal.com]

Re: Dave.

[moleintheground.livejournal.com]

Oh that is immense -

“[laughs] There was a line in episode five where Ray sees the stars and he says ‘It’s like we’re some kind of astronauts’ – and I remember telling you that there’s a line coming up that will send your blood cold! And I knew there would be a group of people out there going ‘Oh no, f—! Please don’t do that!’ And so when that line went in it was very much a cheeky ‘let’s worry people’ bit!”

That fully shat me up!

‘Everyone’s telling me that everything’s going to be tied up at the end – please don’t tie everything up, leave us with something to invent for ourselves…’

I totally agree with that. Ah, I am so happy they gave us that show.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha, wait, so in LoM US, they were actually ON MARS??? Fvck me, that's priceless.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, they were in cryogenic suspension en route to Mars for some kind of DNA bank that had been left there - ie they were on a GENE HUNT DYS?

Why don't I have a Queen icon??

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Was it co-written by Ben Elton?

[steve586.livejournal.com]

Re: Mystical Machine Gun. This was me AND I AM NOT ASHAMED! Whether I should be or not.

It has an a capella break where Crispin Mills shouts "You're a wizard in a blizzard" Whats not to love?

Armageddon alert, sarge.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

What's not to love? The fact that it's Crispian Mills doing the shouting!

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Re: film, was it Between Two Worlds?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

It bloody was! Well done, given I couldn't remember any of the cast names either, whenever I have tried searching for it by plot keywords I have not got very far. Thank you.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

There are few things at which I have reliable skill, but finding crap out on Google is one of them, that took two goes.

[cappuccino-kid.livejournal.com]

You can probably guess who picked what

Fucking hell, not half.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

ha!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Although a few people guessed that Devant into Indelicates was pure me, when it could equally have been pure Aug, or (as was in fact the case) both of us.

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Not that I want to defend that terrible Doctor Who episode, but the giant lizards are the Palestinians in that analogy.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

No, definitely the Jews. It had been their land first. They'd gone away to avoid the asteroid/Adric-piloted freighter (stand-in for the Diaspora) and then come back to find it occupied. I'm not sure if this makes the ruddy big drill the Holocaust or Zionism.

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Actually, the metaphor could work both ways: the Silurians could represent the Jews coming back from exile and reclaiming 'their' land in the 1940s after having slept underground for three thousand years while the Palestinians evolved in their place. Or they could represent the Palestinians wanting to reclaim 'their' land today after they slept underground for sixty years while the Israelis evolved in their place.

Maybe the true message is that Palestinians and Israelis and sexy lizard women aren't so different after all.

[exmoor-cat.livejournal.com]

I noticed Radio 7's about to do a prequel miniseries of Blakes 7, top cast too - Keeley Hawes, Colin Salmon, Geoffrey Palmer, Daniella Nardini, amongst others, as well as Michael Keating and Jan Chappell from the original series.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I never really got into Blake's 7 - in the nineties its fans were amongst the few people on whom Who fans could legitimately look down, and the one episode I did see I found a bit clodhopping, as one expects from Terry Nation. I should really give the later seasons a chance sometime, though.