Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Come with me on a journey through time and space, to the land of the mighty boosh...
We're not really going on a journey, I just thought I'd open with something that sounded vaguely mythical, and I'm very happy that that BBC has seen fit to repeat 'the mighty boosh' on sunday nights now, especially since the one that was on on sunday was one I'd missed the first time around. Have you noticed how BBC only seems to get one decent sitcom every twelve years or so- (Seinfeld, Boosh, Arrested Development) but bury them in really weird timeslots? And if they repeat them, the timeslot is even weirder? Channel 4 get more good shows, and have a bit more nous about promoting them/finding suitable timeslots, but only ever seem to find the time to repeat Friends, or early episodes of Cheers. It's hard to know which of these practices is preferable, but the day when terrestrial TV becomes too nerve-shreddingly incompetent to put up with draws ever nearer. I watched a show the other day about this village in the south of wales where the government have switched off the analogue signal already, and dished out free digiboxes to everyone- sometimes multiple boxes for each household- or in the case of a local hotel, 96 boxes! Now I'm quite cheap, you all know that, and while there is a promise, in the non-specific future, of a free anything, there's no way I'm paying for it. However, blair has categorically said that there is no promise of free digiboxes for the UK in general. He has however, said that the analogue signal will be switched off by 2010. (I believe it was originally 2005, then 2007) To do this without issuing free digiboxes to people without would be unlawful. My opinion? I think he knows if he ever wants standardised digital TV nationwide- shelling out for boxes is unavoidable; however, if he keeps procrastinating, more people will lose patience and buy their own, thereby saving him a few pounds. I hope my impotent rage at the inanities of terrestrial TV doesn't overwhelm my natural tight-fistedness, though, as I quite like the idea of Blair paying for me to watch dutch lesbian wrestling and korean mole humping.
Speaking of humping moles, we finished watching Our Friends in the North. In my last post I was commending it for it's performances and script and yadda yadda, this was before we reached the latter episodes where all the leads grow old and bitter and by the time we got halfway through 1994 I was silently screaming 'just kill yourselves, you miserable bloody bastards, you know you want to!'. I'm all for 'serious' TV, but why does that always translate into 'the televised depths of human misery'? Actually, I'm not opposed to the depths of human misery either, but prefer it in quick, 'You've been framed/Battle Royale' style format as opposed to this turgid 20-hour directionless bumf. But that’s just me. Best show of the last 20 years.
Also watched 'Public Access', Brian Singers directorial debut that, as you might expect, is noir-ish, low-rent, engaging and sparse. I really liked it, but was amazed by how very scared Gill was when it had finished. It's not a horror, it's a little violent in places but nothing too graphic. I think it was the performance of the lead guy that did it- he was very cold and measured, and you really couldn't tell what was going on with him- even at then end you have no clue what his motivations were, but it struck me as odd that she was pretty terrified by it all.
On to 'Catch me if you can' which, for obvious reasons, I had dubbed 'Miss me if you can' until now. It wasn't fantastic by any stretch, but considering I usually feel ill at the thought of either Tod Honks or Leonardo Sproutface, and even I quite enjoyed it, should say something. I think it had more to do with the real-life Abagnale's voice, which was ever present (not as a VO or anything, just in the perception of events and such like) than the performances. And that Spielberg, it's been a long time since I credited him with anything other than mindless artistic whoredom/rampant emotional button-pushing, but you can't deny he knows how to drive a story along- he works better with something fast and zippy and simple like this, rather than something (snooze)worthy like Schindler's fist.
Oh yeah, if you haven't seen it already (and Paddy probably has) watch 'Walking Tall' with The rock and Johnny Knoxville. You won't be sorry. He's good. His town has gone bad. He has a big stick. That's the bulk of the dramatic content out of the way- there's also a fabulous scene where he represents himself in court. Yes, it's that good. My only regret is I missed it in the cinema.
It's not all good, though. I've taken to watching films in the back office when I'm at my work, the problem is the library has a limited supply of 'good' films all of which I've watched by now, so I've had to move on to the not so good ones. I watched Catwoman on monday, which was not as hilariously bad as I had been led to believe, but must've subliminally lowered my expectations of cinematic endeavour to some extent because The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which I watched on Tuesday, was almost credible by comparison. It goes without saying it is a hopeless piss-stain on the memory of the graphic novel, but at least it had the decency to have impressive special effects. Connery wants euthanised though.
Aido 'What's wrong with Brewster?' Potato
We're not really going on a journey, I just thought I'd open with something that sounded vaguely mythical, and I'm very happy that that BBC has seen fit to repeat 'the mighty boosh' on sunday nights now, especially since the one that was on on sunday was one I'd missed the first time around. Have you noticed how BBC only seems to get one decent sitcom every twelve years or so- (Seinfeld, Boosh, Arrested Development) but bury them in really weird timeslots? And if they repeat them, the timeslot is even weirder? Channel 4 get more good shows, and have a bit more nous about promoting them/finding suitable timeslots, but only ever seem to find the time to repeat Friends, or early episodes of Cheers. It's hard to know which of these practices is preferable, but the day when terrestrial TV becomes too nerve-shreddingly incompetent to put up with draws ever nearer. I watched a show the other day about this village in the south of wales where the government have switched off the analogue signal already, and dished out free digiboxes to everyone- sometimes multiple boxes for each household- or in the case of a local hotel, 96 boxes! Now I'm quite cheap, you all know that, and while there is a promise, in the non-specific future, of a free anything, there's no way I'm paying for it. However, blair has categorically said that there is no promise of free digiboxes for the UK in general. He has however, said that the analogue signal will be switched off by 2010. (I believe it was originally 2005, then 2007) To do this without issuing free digiboxes to people without would be unlawful. My opinion? I think he knows if he ever wants standardised digital TV nationwide- shelling out for boxes is unavoidable; however, if he keeps procrastinating, more people will lose patience and buy their own, thereby saving him a few pounds. I hope my impotent rage at the inanities of terrestrial TV doesn't overwhelm my natural tight-fistedness, though, as I quite like the idea of Blair paying for me to watch dutch lesbian wrestling and korean mole humping.
Speaking of humping moles, we finished watching Our Friends in the North. In my last post I was commending it for it's performances and script and yadda yadda, this was before we reached the latter episodes where all the leads grow old and bitter and by the time we got halfway through 1994 I was silently screaming 'just kill yourselves, you miserable bloody bastards, you know you want to!'. I'm all for 'serious' TV, but why does that always translate into 'the televised depths of human misery'? Actually, I'm not opposed to the depths of human misery either, but prefer it in quick, 'You've been framed/Battle Royale' style format as opposed to this turgid 20-hour directionless bumf. But that’s just me. Best show of the last 20 years.
Also watched 'Public Access', Brian Singers directorial debut that, as you might expect, is noir-ish, low-rent, engaging and sparse. I really liked it, but was amazed by how very scared Gill was when it had finished. It's not a horror, it's a little violent in places but nothing too graphic. I think it was the performance of the lead guy that did it- he was very cold and measured, and you really couldn't tell what was going on with him- even at then end you have no clue what his motivations were, but it struck me as odd that she was pretty terrified by it all.
On to 'Catch me if you can' which, for obvious reasons, I had dubbed 'Miss me if you can' until now. It wasn't fantastic by any stretch, but considering I usually feel ill at the thought of either Tod Honks or Leonardo Sproutface, and even I quite enjoyed it, should say something. I think it had more to do with the real-life Abagnale's voice, which was ever present (not as a VO or anything, just in the perception of events and such like) than the performances. And that Spielberg, it's been a long time since I credited him with anything other than mindless artistic whoredom/rampant emotional button-pushing, but you can't deny he knows how to drive a story along- he works better with something fast and zippy and simple like this, rather than something (snooze)worthy like Schindler's fist.
Oh yeah, if you haven't seen it already (and Paddy probably has) watch 'Walking Tall' with The rock and Johnny Knoxville. You won't be sorry. He's good. His town has gone bad. He has a big stick. That's the bulk of the dramatic content out of the way- there's also a fabulous scene where he represents himself in court. Yes, it's that good. My only regret is I missed it in the cinema.
It's not all good, though. I've taken to watching films in the back office when I'm at my work, the problem is the library has a limited supply of 'good' films all of which I've watched by now, so I've had to move on to the not so good ones. I watched Catwoman on monday, which was not as hilariously bad as I had been led to believe, but must've subliminally lowered my expectations of cinematic endeavour to some extent because The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which I watched on Tuesday, was almost credible by comparison. It goes without saying it is a hopeless piss-stain on the memory of the graphic novel, but at least it had the decency to have impressive special effects. Connery wants euthanised though.
Aido 'What's wrong with Brewster?' Potato
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