Month: January 2004
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The Mouse That Roared
I don’t talk here much about radio plays, but I intend to make some amends in 2004, since I hope to listen to more plays on my Tungsten E. So let’s start with The Mouse That Roared based on the comic novel by Leonard Wibberley. Better known in its film version with Peter Sellers, it…
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Night Mail
Sadly we’ve now seen the last of the mail trains, with Of course many remember the wonderful WH Auden poem, Night Mail (copyright Faber & Faber), which was commissioned by the GPO for a 1936 film. Sometime television companies are so slow. The date for this has been known for sometime, and surely repeat of…
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Ice Cold In Alex
I bought my first ever video recorder on 27 October 1990. How can I be so certain of the date? Because I was in Edinburgh on my placement year, I’d just moved into a new flat, discovered that I needed a new TV aerial fitted, and Twin Peaks was starting on BBC2 which I knew…
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Slave
The Guardian yesterday had an astonishing account from Mende Nazer about her life as a member of the Nuba tribe in Sudan, and being captured into slavery. Finally she managed to escape when she was working in Britain. The full account doesn’t seem to be up on the main Guardian site, but it’s an extract…
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You’re so money and you don’t even know it
Just tapping away on this keyboard when Swingers comes on the television, and they reach this part which I love. Script lifted from here: NIKKI (recorded):Hi. This is Nikki. Leave a message. (beep) MIKE: Hi, Nikki. This is Mike. I met you tonight at the Dresden. I, uh, just called to say I, uh, I’m…
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Insomnia
I shall say right up front that I readily dislike remakes. If the film was good the first time, what possible reason, beyond monetary, gain can you have for remaking it? The list of poor remakes is endless, although as one of my favourite films of all time, I will admit to a massive contradiction…
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Cabaret
Well thank you very much to The Mirror. In today’s paper for just 45p, they included a copy of Cabaret on DVD. And since I had nothing better to do (obviously a complete lie), I sat in and watched it. Now I’m not exactly a musical fan, but then I wouldn’t really class this as…
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WAGN
Why is it that I always feel that WAGN are screwing us poor commuters on the Hertford Loop? To explain for a moment, you need to know that going north from Kings Cross, there is a mainline operated by GNER, and two commuter lines operated by WAGN. One of these lines runs parallel to the…
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Hysteria Meter
As a service to the general public, with planes being cancelled and countries being invaded, I’ve decided to introduce the brand new Hysteria Meter. Based very loosely on the UK and US Governments’ regular pronouncements about how safe we are at any given moment, this meter will accurately reflect the current way of thinking at…
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The Return of the Dancing Master
And so to the latest English translation of Henning Mankell. This is the first Mankell novel that I’ve read which doesn’t feature Inspector Wallander. In this instance we follow Stefan Lindman, a policeman with cancerous tongue, worried about his forthcoming treatment, and on sick leave. When an old boss of his dies in the north…
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A Mighty Wind
First a confession. I don’t think that I’ve ever sat through the whole of Spinal Tap. And I’ve never seen Best in Show despite my best efforts (no pun intented); one of these days, I’ll get hold of a cheap version of the DVD. But I was keen to see A Mighty Wind as I…
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Pointless
Channel 4 have made an early run for the most pointless show on television with their new “reality” format – Shattered. Yes, it’s a bunch of people trying to stay awake for as long as possible. Brilliant. That’s going to make fascinating telly isn’t it? Lots of people sitting around in a Big Brother type…