Were you surprised there has been such a fuss about whether your ass would stay in the picture?Hollywood post-millenium, everyone ...
Yeah, I was. I think Fox is struggling to find something to get ink on. But it seems like sort of a non-story. It's not that hard-core. We've seen worse on so many television shows, and so it felt like that was one of those things where they're just going, "What do we do, how do we sell this? Maybe we sell it through sex." Which is fine. It's certainly closer [to what the movie's about] than the original [ideas to market it], which were as sci-fi, because if young men show up thinking it's going to be a sci-fi film, they're going to be really pissed. Solaris doesn't fit into a category you can give a sound bite to--so, how do you talk about a film that is really for adults?
Film Of course I'm deeply excited by the prospect of Steven Soderbergh's version of 'Solaris'. And I'm sure some women are equally excited by the prospect of seeing a lot of its star George Clooney:
ID It's a cushion. It's a mirror. It's a mirror cushion. Is this what Davros uses to cuddle up to late at night when he's watching Ed Wood movies?
Work The last day of work in any job is never the same I’ve found. I remember the last time, it was an absolute event. Today few cared. Some that knew did say good bye but they were when I returned from lunch, so on leaving I was simply told by the others to have a good weekend, and that they would see me on Tuesday. I just wanted to get out. Leave. So it was simpler just to say the same to them – to tell them that in fact they wouldn’t be seeing me Tuesday would have only promoted more questions from them. I didn’t know these people. We weren’t even friends. For once I wanted to just disappear.
Lunchtime I'm currently being dwarfed by a nine foot high Christmas tree. It's leaning, still wrapped, next to the internet machine I'm using at the library close to work. It would be terribly sinister were it not for the wafting aroma of pine. Suddenly it really does feel like Christmas is four seeks away. On my way here, as the rain lashed down I stood momentarily outside a house -- through the net curtains they had already put up their tree and decorations and the lights were dimmed; it looked like a warmest place in the world. I think I'm going to go home tonight and put up our advent calender. It plays a different tune as each window is opened. I can't wait to here it's rendition of 'Away in a Manger'.
Watching with Wharfdale
My So-Called Life DVD boxset
There used be a TV programme on Sunday nights on BBC One called ‘When the boat comes in’. I was very young, so the only thing a remember was the theme song, which was something along the lines of ‘You shall have a fishy, on a little dishy, dah dah dah dah dah, when the boat comes in.’ I suspect there was a fishing subject matter somewhere in there, but whenever our family had the tv conversation at Christmas my Dad will look off into the distance and get misty eyed. When I’m his age and I’m talking to my kids there’ll be on programme I’ll bring up and bore them rigid about. The difference is I’ll be able to get it down off the shelf and pop it into the DVD player.
The magic of the internet means that I don’t actually have to go on at great length about what the show is, or why it means so much and which my favourite moment is. It’s all been covered already by myself and others. So instead I’ll be keep with everything I’ve noticed rewatching the series over the past few days. I refer you to this FAQ as a pretty good way of finding what I’m on about because I’m going to be shockingly insular and only talk about it for people who already love the series and are thinking about shelling out for the boxset. I’ll also demonstrate time and again why it’s better than ‘Dawson’s Creek’ in every respect …
Angela I’d actually forgetten how vindictive she could be. Apart from the incident in which she sells the ‘Dead’ tickets her Dad gave her, there are all the times she entirely unsympathetic to Brian, Sharon and her sister. But staggeringly everyone is like that. Showing a depth of characterization not seen elsewhere, all of the characters are portrayed as been as mean, nasty, helpful, good as we all are. Even Brian, who for much of the series is portayed as wounded puppy is entirely hateful towards Delia Fisher, and completely fails to relate during the substitute teacher episode. Better than DC? In DC the characters never mean to … in MSCL they do time and again … which is the more realistic?
Story-arcs I hadn’t realized how MSCL doesn’t do story arcs, or at least not in the traditional way. What arcs do exist are more developments within a given situation. For example, Angela slowly getting closer to Jordan; Angela and Sharon making up; Angela and Rayanne falling out; Brian falling for Angela. Whenever a major event does occur (Sharon’s Dad’s heart attack), it lasts an episode and the developments are more about the character than the thing. They aren’t allowed to rule their lives – in that same episode although Patty and Graham are cut up about the heart attack, they never lose focus on the running of the business. Also some things slow burn – Rayanne’s drinking problem is in there from the start but it’s pretty subliminal, we don’t really notice it, just like real life. Better than DC? Recently Dawson’s Dad died. Most other plotlines stopped for about three episodes while all of the fall out worked its way through as though nothing else was happening in the character’s lives. In MSCL when Rayanne slept with Jordan, although it had magnitude, only those directly involved were effected. Everything else just carried on regardless.
The Adults I hadn’t noticed before how integral Angela’s parents are. Every episode features a plotline about them and unlike other teen shows it’s not from the kids point of view. There are even a couple of episodes were their story has more significance (‘Father Figure’). You can see why ABC had issues with finding a slot … Better than DC? When Dawson’s Mom had an affair it was more about how it effected Dawson. When Angela’s Dad was thinking about it, it was about his marriage instead – Angela wasn’t in much of the equation.
Parody Oddly MSCL doesn’t seem to afraid of parodying itself. One of the zeniths of this is the moment in ‘Halloween’ when Angela’s younger sister Danielle does a pitch perfect impression of her big sister playing on the mad angst of earlier episodes (toned down a but by then). Better than DC? Ripe for parody, DC runs away and hides from it. DC’s stock in trade is echoes – visual or textual references to previous storylines and moments, such as Dawson and Joey’s first kiss.
Visual I forgotten how visual many of the shows are. From the view from under Angela’s cardigan in the first episode; through the montage about kissing via the scene were Brian glimpses Rayanne shaving her legs there are hundred are memorable moments. Better than DC? To be honest, I watched two new episodes on Sunday and I can’t remember their being a single shot which made my mouth fall open. That happens time and again on MSCL.
DVD So what do you get for your sixty odd quid? It’s a weird one actually. Unlike the origami adventures of the Buffy boxsets (all folded card board) here we have each disk in a separate standard plastic dvd box wrapped into a card board traditional of VHS boxsets. Each box has the same picture of Angela on the front and episode descriptions on the back with little pictures which might be from the series. It’s all very uniform. And cheap looking, but to be honest it doesn’t matter. This is one of the situations were the product is more important than the packaging. There are no special features. No commentaries, no trailers. But again it doesn’t matter because of the quality of the product. I’d rather have nothing than something half-hearted like some onscreen essay. Especially if it kept costs down. I do have a gripe with the annoying menus. I would have preferred something silent with the black and white MSCL logo and the options. Instead we get the annoying rock version of the theme from the closing credits of the pilot, over a mess of pinks and a far to red shot of Angela looking like she’s got piles. No really. It’s a nightmare. Better than DC? So far only four episodes of DC are available. Nyer, nyer nee nyer neyer.
But one we can live with. It somehow feels wrong that I’ve got access to this in *this* condition. Go. Go buy now … and that's all I have to say about that ... for now ...
My So-Called Life DVD boxset
There used be a TV programme on Sunday nights on BBC One called ‘When the boat comes in’. I was very young, so the only thing a remember was the theme song, which was something along the lines of ‘You shall have a fishy, on a little dishy, dah dah dah dah dah, when the boat comes in.’ I suspect there was a fishing subject matter somewhere in there, but whenever our family had the tv conversation at Christmas my Dad will look off into the distance and get misty eyed. When I’m his age and I’m talking to my kids there’ll be on programme I’ll bring up and bore them rigid about. The difference is I’ll be able to get it down off the shelf and pop it into the DVD player.
The magic of the internet means that I don’t actually have to go on at great length about what the show is, or why it means so much and which my favourite moment is. It’s all been covered already by myself and others. So instead I’ll be keep with everything I’ve noticed rewatching the series over the past few days. I refer you to this FAQ as a pretty good way of finding what I’m on about because I’m going to be shockingly insular and only talk about it for people who already love the series and are thinking about shelling out for the boxset. I’ll also demonstrate time and again why it’s better than ‘Dawson’s Creek’ in every respect …
Angela I’d actually forgetten how vindictive she could be. Apart from the incident in which she sells the ‘Dead’ tickets her Dad gave her, there are all the times she entirely unsympathetic to Brian, Sharon and her sister. But staggeringly everyone is like that. Showing a depth of characterization not seen elsewhere, all of the characters are portrayed as been as mean, nasty, helpful, good as we all are. Even Brian, who for much of the series is portayed as wounded puppy is entirely hateful towards Delia Fisher, and completely fails to relate during the substitute teacher episode. Better than DC? In DC the characters never mean to … in MSCL they do time and again … which is the more realistic?
Story-arcs I hadn’t realized how MSCL doesn’t do story arcs, or at least not in the traditional way. What arcs do exist are more developments within a given situation. For example, Angela slowly getting closer to Jordan; Angela and Sharon making up; Angela and Rayanne falling out; Brian falling for Angela. Whenever a major event does occur (Sharon’s Dad’s heart attack), it lasts an episode and the developments are more about the character than the thing. They aren’t allowed to rule their lives – in that same episode although Patty and Graham are cut up about the heart attack, they never lose focus on the running of the business. Also some things slow burn – Rayanne’s drinking problem is in there from the start but it’s pretty subliminal, we don’t really notice it, just like real life. Better than DC? Recently Dawson’s Dad died. Most other plotlines stopped for about three episodes while all of the fall out worked its way through as though nothing else was happening in the character’s lives. In MSCL when Rayanne slept with Jordan, although it had magnitude, only those directly involved were effected. Everything else just carried on regardless.
The Adults I hadn’t noticed before how integral Angela’s parents are. Every episode features a plotline about them and unlike other teen shows it’s not from the kids point of view. There are even a couple of episodes were their story has more significance (‘Father Figure’). You can see why ABC had issues with finding a slot … Better than DC? When Dawson’s Mom had an affair it was more about how it effected Dawson. When Angela’s Dad was thinking about it, it was about his marriage instead – Angela wasn’t in much of the equation.
Parody Oddly MSCL doesn’t seem to afraid of parodying itself. One of the zeniths of this is the moment in ‘Halloween’ when Angela’s younger sister Danielle does a pitch perfect impression of her big sister playing on the mad angst of earlier episodes (toned down a but by then). Better than DC? Ripe for parody, DC runs away and hides from it. DC’s stock in trade is echoes – visual or textual references to previous storylines and moments, such as Dawson and Joey’s first kiss.
Visual I forgotten how visual many of the shows are. From the view from under Angela’s cardigan in the first episode; through the montage about kissing via the scene were Brian glimpses Rayanne shaving her legs there are hundred are memorable moments. Better than DC? To be honest, I watched two new episodes on Sunday and I can’t remember their being a single shot which made my mouth fall open. That happens time and again on MSCL.
DVD So what do you get for your sixty odd quid? It’s a weird one actually. Unlike the origami adventures of the Buffy boxsets (all folded card board) here we have each disk in a separate standard plastic dvd box wrapped into a card board traditional of VHS boxsets. Each box has the same picture of Angela on the front and episode descriptions on the back with little pictures which might be from the series. It’s all very uniform. And cheap looking, but to be honest it doesn’t matter. This is one of the situations were the product is more important than the packaging. There are no special features. No commentaries, no trailers. But again it doesn’t matter because of the quality of the product. I’d rather have nothing than something half-hearted like some onscreen essay. Especially if it kept costs down. I do have a gripe with the annoying menus. I would have preferred something silent with the black and white MSCL logo and the options. Instead we get the annoying rock version of the theme from the closing credits of the pilot, over a mess of pinks and a far to red shot of Angela looking like she’s got piles. No really. It’s a nightmare. Better than DC? So far only four episodes of DC are available. Nyer, nyer nee nyer neyer.
But one we can live with. It somehow feels wrong that I’ve got access to this in *this* condition. Go. Go buy now … and that's all I have to say about that ... for now ...
Life My posting absense is because of (a) my continuing cold (called into work sick today ... back in tomorrow) and (b) watching my newly delivered My So-Called Life DVD boxset (which has made me feel a whole lot better and of which I'll wax lyrical in future postings I'm sure). In the mean time, two things which strike me as aposite. For some reason this reminds me of Ricki in later episodes; and this strikes me as something which might have made the series even shorter (god forbid) ... [via Katie's Head, related Metafilter thread]
Blog! Milk Plus -- it's about films ...
Blog! Milk Plus -- it's about films ...
History Winston Churchill has been voted as the Greatest Briton. Yes, he gave some great speeches when he needed to, but who gave him the language to make them? [Mefi]
Telecommunications One of life's absolute joys is passing a payphone when it starts to ring and there is no one about. You dash to answer it, and if you get there in time there is always that instant of possibility that there will be someone on the end. The Payphone Project: UK allows us all to spread the joy ... time to add mine ... [via wrzl]
Blog! I feel you pain. The title says it all ....
I hate trains, oh how I hate them. The journey time is one thing, but the fact that one is constantly surrounded by screaming kids, belching lads and chatty old ladies is quite another. Virgin have scrapped their smoking carriage in favour of a 'Quiet Coach' for one - having sat in one of these on the way into the city on Friday, I can honestly say that it should have been reported under the Trades Descriptions Act. There were kids everywhere, screaming and squawking, fat bald thirty-something men drinking cans of Tennants Super and an old Grandma behind me who chirped and tweeted her way city-bound.But was it any better under British Rail?
Music This answers that question:
John Leyland: I'm trying to find a song that contains lyrics that go something like "it's funny how the girls you fall in love with never fancy you" or similar - can you help?I actually remember riding about the Edge Lane area of Liverpool looking for the new cinema which had opened singing this very, very loudly ... [from: I Know My Music]
6th Floor Online: I remember that song - I think it was by a group called Airhead, and was called "Funny How". Round about 1990?
Keli R: Correct. The song is "Funny How" by Airhead, who are probably the most famous thing ever to come from Maidstone. Um, "Funny How" was released as a single, on Korova Records, but your best bet for getting hold of a copy of the song (other than Napster) is to search bargain bins for the parent album "Boing" (also Korova Records, now deleted).
Jez: As a postscript: Airhead were originally 'Jefferson Airhead' - until Grace Slick and co. (Jefferson Airplane/Starship etc) started threatening legal action..!
History Many moons ago, in a sparky moment on 'Have I Got News For You', Ian Hislop suggested that there should be a version of Top Trumps featuring British Monarchs, to teach kids about them. Now, thanks the BBCi 'Great Britons' site, he has (sort of) got his wish. My Winston Churchill just beat their Jane Austin ...
Life Another story for the interested. 'The Guardian' Guide mini-book waxed lyrical today about 'My So-Called Life', a series I'm forever referencing here. In a flouting of the copyright laws a scan appears here (what else am I supposed to do if they haven't posted a linkable version online?). It's a short piece but covers all the reason I still love the series. It's anti-'Dawson's Creek' but in a funny way:
"Compared to the later (vile) Dawson's Creek -- where Dawson The Bastard lurches from one existential crisis to another like some massive-foreheaded Camus -- MSCL's characters were bogged down in the mundane because, like real teenagers, they didn't know any different."I could of course enter into a long discourse about how 'The Creek' is a different kind of show, trying to do different things, but I'll not bother because 'The Life' was a superior show. And I can't agree more with the article's comparison of how each programme has with the gay sub-plot, for example. And I love the idea that all roads from the currently critically acclaimed shows lead back to MSCL (his implication is that 'Six Feet Under creator, Alan Ball is something of a fan -- so now the reunion film has a writer ...) Or something.
Buffy Since I've got a cold and I'm in a self-indulgent mood:
"Every set has its own sort of tenor. The thing about Firefly.. that this whole cast, ... they're extremely kind and professional, and they get along, and they help each other, and they work hard. I'm not saying my other casts don't work hard. And some of them get along, and it's great. But there's a star, and then there's the ensemble. And there's tensions on the set. ... It's not one big happy family. It seldom is on a television set. And [in Firefly,] I've got nine people, all of whom are great in a scene. Any pair of them works great. And all of them doing their best to help each other out. It's early on still. But they really feel like an ensemble than any bunch I've worked with."Implication being there may be a few prima-donna's knocking around the Buffyverse ... anyone like to take bets? [from Sci-fi Wire, via Wheadonesque]
That Day It’s the end of the school day and two teachers are discussing what’s been happening, and in particular one of their students who simple doesn’t seem to be fitting in. She’s a bit of a loner and has difficulty concentrating in class. They confront the child, who seems a bet restless and disturbed. The teachers are still worried and follow her home, only to find her ducking into a junkyard. They wait a moment then follow her in, only to be confronted by a batty old man, who claims to be the girl’s grandfather. They hear the girl’s voice -- he’s keeping her locked away in a box. Angry one of the teachers rushes at the box and they both find themselves trapped inside as well. The old man kidnaps and it’s years before they escape.
In the year 2002 this would be cutting edge drama about child abuse, probably by Ken Loach. In 1963 it was a kids programme, and the first episode of the longest running British science fiction series.
Happy 39th Birthday Doctor Who.
In the year 2002 this would be cutting edge drama about child abuse, probably by Ken Loach. In 1963 it was a kids programme, and the first episode of the longest running British science fiction series.
Happy 39th Birthday Doctor Who.
People I'm still afflicted with both a cold, and the inability to get to the end of the special features which accompany the extended version of 'Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring', so slim pickings tonight (although that last post was something of a bombshell). So I'll leave you with the joy that is the personal ads from 'The London Review of Books':
"Mediocre advertisers cringe in their boxes when I move in. All powerful big boss man of South Yorks publishing empire seeks, and shall have, tall blonde trophy trollop. Must enjoy trans-Pennine minicab weekends with view to marriage. Box no. 21/03Damn, it's cold in here ...
Your place or your other place? Woman, 32, needful of the finer things in life seeks stinking rich bloke, 80 to 100. Must be willing to fibrillate his ventricles when he becomes tiresome or bankrupt or both. Also interesting thirtysomethings for illicit and immoral affair to be conducted concurrently with the above. Box no. 21/11
Shy, serious minded and the search goes on for my chin. Oxbridge type, London based, Geneva bound (New Year) M seeks life of sin with delicately raunchy French-speaking twenties F. Box no. 22/10
Work I handed my notice in today. The comparison with last time was stark. Last time I knew everyone, and it came as an absolute shock to them all. Here I don’t know anyone very much at all (partly, mostly my own fault/choosing) so I suppose I’ll be one of the people who simply disappear.
Unlike last time I do have a job to go to. I had applied for it a few weeks ago and received a rejection letter, but I suspect someone has dropped out of their initial choice and here I am. I’m like Viggo Mortensen I suppose getting the call up to appear in ‘Lord of the Rings’, to replace the miscast Stuart Townsend as Aragorn. He had days to pack up his life to disappear for a year, I’ve just over a week. The new job is everything I’ve possible been looking for, for now. It’s in the city centre, it’s a salary increase of a few thousand more a year and it’s outside the financial sector. I think some people were meant to be pushing numbers around and some would rather be somewhere else. In this job (I’ll probably tell you what it is one day) I’ll me interacting with people about their actual lives. See Mae Winningham in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’. Or in the area anyway.
I’m just looking forward to my lunch times being a richer experience. There are only so many times you can go to the local library to use the internet. I can do that at home.
Unlike last time I do have a job to go to. I had applied for it a few weeks ago and received a rejection letter, but I suspect someone has dropped out of their initial choice and here I am. I’m like Viggo Mortensen I suppose getting the call up to appear in ‘Lord of the Rings’, to replace the miscast Stuart Townsend as Aragorn. He had days to pack up his life to disappear for a year, I’ve just over a week. The new job is everything I’ve possible been looking for, for now. It’s in the city centre, it’s a salary increase of a few thousand more a year and it’s outside the financial sector. I think some people were meant to be pushing numbers around and some would rather be somewhere else. In this job (I’ll probably tell you what it is one day) I’ll me interacting with people about their actual lives. See Mae Winningham in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’. Or in the area anyway.
I’m just looking forward to my lunch times being a richer experience. There are only so many times you can go to the local library to use the internet. I can do that at home.
Books I lost all of my grandparents at a very young age. I do remember them, but it's through the distant cloud of years. I shouldn't really relate to The Museum of Who We Were by Suzanne Freeman, but something resonates. She talks about using her grandmother's place as the home of one her young characters in her novel. The house was a place of comfort. somewhere she could retreat to, physically as a child, and in her mind as an adult:
"It reassured us, in summertime, to belong to such a solid place. It taught us much about who we were. The log house was apt to fill up on a July afternoon with uncles and great-aunts and second cousins once removed, sitting in the living room with the shades lowered against the heat, telling family stories, sometimes in dropped voices that made you listen all the harder. This was where I first heard the words paramour and tipsy. But also jurisprudence and civil rights, both having to do with members of our own family."I know some of you don't always follow my links, but I urge you to look at this piece -- it's an extremely effective piece of writing. [excerpted from 'A Certain Somewhere', edited by Robert Wilson]
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