gogglebox

After recommendations, I've started watching Channel 4's Gogglebox  recently, and actually enjoy it a lot more than l thought l would do.  At first, it was 'Why would l want to watch other people watching TV?', it sounds like an insane idea, and l certainly have better things to do with my time.
Turns out l haven't, and the show can be quite funny.  Also, despite my prejudices against the upper clases (I know! - I've got many, many issues), my favourites on the show are the posh pissheads, Stephanie and Dominic Parker, probably because they remind me of a recent relationship (minus the poshness).
My nagging reservation about the show that prevents me enjoying it more, is the rather obvious elephant in the room (not me). That is, these people are on TV each week themselves, have achieved some kind of twisted celebrity, and are aware of how they are coming accross on our screens.  In which case, they must sometimes be playing up to the cameras, and not being their natural selves, and l can't get that nagging doubt out of my tiny little brain whenever l watch it.
Still good to watch for mind sapping relaxation, plus through the clips shown, l get glimpses into other programmes that l avoid like the plague.
X Factor - l'm talking about you, and as a cynical yet comedic look at talent shows, l recommend Ben Elton's novel 'Chart Throb'. You'll think differently about the shows afterwards.

toodle pip

remember me - bbc drama

I watched the concluding episode of BBC's supernatural drama 'Remember Me' last night, and what a treat it was. An elderly man tries to leave his old haunted home behind, but with dire consequences to him and others.  It kept you guessing where the story was heading, and there were enough jump out shocks and surprises to keep you on your toes, so a hearty success all around.
All of the cast were believable and not too over the top (as often happens), but Michael Palin as Tom Parfitt (the old man) gave an outstanding performance, and Jodie Corner as Hannah (the teenage care assistant)   wasn't too shoddy either.  I have a hunch that awards could well be on the way.
Marvelous stuff, although l now can't get the 'Scarborough Fair' song out of my head.

Here's Simon and Garfunkel's version, originally from the 1966  'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme' LP - one of my favourite albums.



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the addams family hopefuls

It's hard to imagine anyone else apart from Carolyn Jones playing Morticia Addams in TV series of 'The Addams Family', but of course, before filming commenced, actors had to be tried out, and here are some of the photographs from the casting sessions, with Carolyn at the bottom.
I used to love the show, as l was mainly bought up on American TV, and this is one of the classics of the era, even if they only did two seasons (but 64 episodes).
Taken from Life magazine

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dating advice from futurama

Some sound advice from Futurama.
Don't date robots!!
Another wacky saying that would look good on a t shirt.

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jack jones is don draper

Jack Jones is Don Draper from Mad Men.
I claim my prize.

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slow club - tears of joy

Seeing as no-one else seems to have got round to uploading Slow Club performing 'Tears of Joy', l'll do it myself.
From their album 'Complete Surrender', and l love it.  One of my favourite songs of the year.

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moss gives evidence in the it crowd

I'm sure l have posted this before, but it is one of the funniest things l have seen on TV, and luckily for me, was repeated again last week.  Maurice Moss from The IT Crowd giving evidence in court.
It makes me laugh every time l watch it, and Richard Ayoade's (who plays Moss) expressions, speech, reactions, and comic timing are just perfect.

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american horror story - freak show

I'm loving the new series of 'American Horror Story - Freak Show' at the moment, it's been at turns, funny, scary, strange and clever, and l also think that it was a great idea to add contemporary songs into the mix,as well as having Elsa Mars dress as Bowie.
Two are featured above.  David Bowie's 'Life on Mars' and Fiona Apple's 'Criminal' (with the original videos as well).
As for the evil 'Twisty the Clown' earlier on (played by John Carrol Lynch) - he was one of the best characters l have ever seen on TV, and it was superb the way the viewers were made to feel sympathy towards him at the end, despite all the nasty and horrible things that he had done. That was an inspired piece of acting and writing.
The full list of all the music played in the series can be found here, and l am certainly going to miss the show once the series has ended.

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true detective - cartoon style

I loved True Detective so much that l stayed up all night and watched the series on the internet, one episode after another (because that's the kind of crazy guy l am!).
Now somebody's only gone and matched some of the dialogue with cartoons.
Genius!  Rather like the old Charlie Brown and Peanuts / The Smiths mix from a while ago.
More here.

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clubbed to death / furious angels

This is one of my favourite moments from a film, as the 'Furious Angels' music (by Rob Dougan) is so atmospheric, and fits the (slightly dragged out) scene perfectly.
From 'Clubbed To Death', a French film from a few years back about a couple of heroin addicts, and the music has since been used (not clubbed) to death in other films, on TV, and in commercials.  Dougan must have made a fortune from it, but if so, he deserves all he got, as the song is a masterpiece.

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tony hancock and mrs brown's boys

Some of my Tony Hancock related books (yes -  l know l am sad!!)

I still love the old radio shows of Tony Hancock's 'Hancocks Half Hour', but found the TV versions less satisfying, because when he was on the radio, your imagination visualised a lot of the material, plus there were other characters such as Bill Kerr and Sid James that added to the charm.
However, whether it was on the radio or TV, one of the hooks to it's immense popularity, was that you felt everyone was having a laugh together, and in a way, playing themselves (which they were to a degree). Mistakes that were left in only added to the charm, a common theme with 'Mrs Brown's Boys', as that has a close nit (and often related) cast, and the mistakes and general playfulness make the TV audience and viewers at home feel as though they are in on (and part of) the joke, creating a climate where all are wanting the show to succeed.
Sadly for Hancock, he lost his way, left behind the people that helped make him successful (especially Ray Galton and Alan Simpson), and ended up committing suicide in 1968 while filming a (very poor) series in Australia. The magic, scripts and timing had left him, and l guess it all got too much for him, so he left us. There are some of the Australian shows on You Tube, but they are cringe worthy to look at, especially compared to what had gone before.
Luckily a lot of the old shows, especially the radio ones, have survived, so at least the humour can be enjoyed and rediscovered by new generations, and help pass the time for demented old bastards like myself, even if l am too young to remember the shows when they were first transmitted.
It's dated, but good humour is still good humour.
As for Mrs Brown's Boys, who knows what direction that will take. I just hope it isn't dragged on way past its sell by date, although l have a sneaking suspicion it will be, because most comedies are.




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blues america and bad mojo

Call it serendipity, coincidence, bad mojo, or the blues guitar playing devil from the crossroads messing with my head, but just as l finished watching the BBC series 'Blues America,' which ended on the USA president Barack Obama  singing 'Sweet Home Chicago', a clip that symbolised that the blues are now everywhere, l switched off the TV, only to hear the radio in my kitchen start playing 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Spooky!
Maybe it's time for me to get an exorcist in, but in the meantime, here's some great footage.



Lynyrd Skynyrd on The Old Grey Whistle Test - Sweet Home Alabama



Muddy Waters at Newport - Got My Mojo Working.  People forget that a lot of the old bluesmen used to know how to entertain a crowd.  The last minute of this (from 6 m in) is pure class.



Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Didn't It Rain.  She could sing, entertain,  and play a mean guitar



Howlin Wolf - If I Were A Bird - 'Inspiration' for Primal Scream's 'Loaded'.

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the hole in the wall gang and alias smith and jones

Here's some people that are well known from TV and the movies.  The Hole in the Wall gang, in a colourised photograph from Mads Madsen, originally taken in Fort Worth, Texas in 1900.
The outlaws are (from left to right) Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid),William Carver (News),  Ben Kilpatrick (The Tall Texan), Harvey Logan (Kid Curry) and Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy).
They look like men you would not want to get an argument with, but look nothing like how they where generally portrayed in popular movies and on TV, and, unlike what it says at the beginning of 'Alias Smith and Jones', Kid Curry was a hard hearted killer.

Here's Butch and Sundance from the movie (Robert Redford and Paul Newman)

Plus Ben Murphy playing Kid Curry, on the right (with Pete Duel) in Alias Smith and Jones (a TV classic).

Ben Murphy was cast because he resembled Paul Newman, and the studio was trying to cash in on the success of the 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid'  film.  I loved the show (and film), but sadly, Pete Duel suffered from depression and killed himself on New Years Eve 1971. The studio (ABC) were a bunch of unsentimental money grabbing bastards and made everyone continue or be sued, and filming re-commenced the same day of his death, with the man who originally did the voiceover, (Roger Davis) taking Pete Duel's role, but it was never as good.

They (the studio) must have got confused and thought it was still the days of The Wild West, and were just concerned about making money, with no thoughts of correct moral behaviour. 

The original Kid Curry would have been proud of them.

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the magnificent seven and some of it's foreign film posters

 

 

The Magnificent Seven is an overrated film as far as l am concerned, but seeing as it was just repeated on TV, l got suckered into watching it again.  Although l do like it generally, the main selling point is seeing such huge stars together in the same movie, even allowing for some overacting aplenty (Robert Vaughan and Horst Buchholz, l'm looking at you two).  There's also some cool and measured performances by Yul Bryyner, Steve McQueen and James Coburn, and Eli Wallach is always a splendidly swarthy and sweaty bad guy, but it's pretty slow paced in parts, and the ending seems to drag on, and then finish too suddenly.
The soundtrack is by Elmer Bernstein, which is one of the most stirring of all time, so a couple of hours can still fly by before you can manage to drag yourself up to put the kettle on (or maybe that's just my sloth like laziness).
I've only had the DVD of The Seven Samurai (the film it's based on) for about two or three years.  Maybe l should get around to watching that, as l have never seen it before, and it's meant to be much better.
So little time...

toodle pip.