Big Finish have brought the entire original Torchwood team back together and hopefully it'll be set during the half decent second series rather than the mostly rubbish first or be better than both as is customary with audio Torchwood:
“It’s been ten years since there's been an adventure featuring Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Tosh and Owen,” says writer Guy Adams, “and coming up with something big enough – and complex enough – to need them was great fun. After all, taking down an entire religion isn’t easy. But if anyone can do it…” [Big Finish]
Samantha Bee, one corner of my Oliver/Myers/Bee US satire info triangle, interviewed:
"“That’s the loudest, most unfiltered version of me that exists,” she says. “In my private life, I’m not like that at all. I don’t kick doors in and walk into meetings wowing everybody with my Entertainment Personality. It’s a wonderful 21-minute catharsis, once a week, but I don’t need to be that person in my day-to-day life.” Her 65-strong team of writers, producers, technicians and graphic designers is notable for its diversity: half of the staff are female and a third are non-white. “It’s not like we have solved the world’s diversity problem, but we do think about it all the time,” she says. “When we need to hire people, we think: let’s try to find a woman for this.”" [The Guardian]
"“That’s the loudest, most unfiltered version of me that exists,” she says. “In my private life, I’m not like that at all. I don’t kick doors in and walk into meetings wowing everybody with my Entertainment Personality. It’s a wonderful 21-minute catharsis, once a week, but I don’t need to be that person in my day-to-day life.” Her 65-strong team of writers, producers, technicians and graphic designers is notable for its diversity: half of the staff are female and a third are non-white. “It’s not like we have solved the world’s diversity problem, but we do think about it all the time,” she says. “When we need to hire people, we think: let’s try to find a woman for this.”" [The Guardian]
Ben Jackson's Racist Past.
TV One of my Christmas presents this year (last year now?) was the superb The Doctor Who Audio Annual: Multi-Doctor stories, in which a variety of stories from the old World Publications have been recorded in the style of the Target novelisations by various luminaries, usually a companion from that era.
The stories in the earliest books, from the 1960s, are notoriously off-piste in their characterisation of the Doctor and his companions as is demonstrated in the choice of 2nd Doctor story, The King of Golden Dead from 1968.
"Dr. Who" and Ben and Polly land in an Egyptian tomb, recently buried and none of them come out of it well in moral terms, the bad place beckons. The Doctor spends most of the "adventure" obsessed with trying to discover if its the final resting place of Tutankhamun, whilst trying to convince his companions not to rob the place.
Eventually an antagonist arrives in the form of some contemporary grave robbers attempting to find a way through which leads to a conversation in which, whoevers writing this, takes Ben's already pretty stupifying cockneyness into the teritory of a racial slur when describing their potential assailants:
Did you spot it? The only reason I noticed it is because I'm reading along with the annuals so I can enjoy the illustrations with the narration. For the most part the readings are accurate, a missed paragraph here, misunderstood letter or punctuation there.
On this occasion the script is rewritten for Anneke Wills who may not even have been aware of the original text. Instead she says, "If there's so many take to his lark of robbing tombs of the mummies ..." which is perfectly fine and gets the point across even if the whole thing is entirely out of character for Mr Jackson.
When plenty of us folk were complaining about the treatment of the First Doctor in this year's Christmas special (last year?) with anachronistic language being used in an out of character way all of it was sexist, none of it racist.
But notice that back in the 60s, the use of this word was considered fine in a children's annual, admittedly not put in the Doctor's mouth. Perhaps a realistic depiction of Ben would have included this word, but it still jars, since it still feels fundamentally wrong for a character in this series who's supposed to be the hero.
That's the 60s annuals for you.
The stories in the earliest books, from the 1960s, are notoriously off-piste in their characterisation of the Doctor and his companions as is demonstrated in the choice of 2nd Doctor story, The King of Golden Dead from 1968.
"Dr. Who" and Ben and Polly land in an Egyptian tomb, recently buried and none of them come out of it well in moral terms, the bad place beckons. The Doctor spends most of the "adventure" obsessed with trying to discover if its the final resting place of Tutankhamun, whilst trying to convince his companions not to rob the place.
Eventually an antagonist arrives in the form of some contemporary grave robbers attempting to find a way through which leads to a conversation in which, whoevers writing this, takes Ben's already pretty stupifying cockneyness into the teritory of a racial slur when describing their potential assailants:
Did you spot it? The only reason I noticed it is because I'm reading along with the annuals so I can enjoy the illustrations with the narration. For the most part the readings are accurate, a missed paragraph here, misunderstood letter or punctuation there.
On this occasion the script is rewritten for Anneke Wills who may not even have been aware of the original text. Instead she says, "If there's so many take to his lark of robbing tombs of the mummies ..." which is perfectly fine and gets the point across even if the whole thing is entirely out of character for Mr Jackson.
When plenty of us folk were complaining about the treatment of the First Doctor in this year's Christmas special (last year?) with anachronistic language being used in an out of character way all of it was sexist, none of it racist.
But notice that back in the 60s, the use of this word was considered fine in a children's annual, admittedly not put in the Doctor's mouth. Perhaps a realistic depiction of Ben would have included this word, but it still jars, since it still feels fundamentally wrong for a character in this series who's supposed to be the hero.
That's the 60s annuals for you.
Detailed analysis of the sound editing in Olivier Assayas's Personal Shopper:
"The most effective tool in Assayas’ gilded box are the noises of indiscernible origin ginned up by his foley team. While most of the e-ink related to this film has been understandably spilt over the much-ballyhooed sequence in which KStew gets cyber-bullied over the course of one working afternoon, the most crucial scenes come a bit earlier, when she spends the night in Lewis’ former home. Here Assayas inserts sounds while only suggesting their point of origin to force us into surrogacy with Maureen as she futilely grasps at understanding. The hand of a director can be as light as any ghost—to the point of imperceptibility." [The AV Club]
"The most effective tool in Assayas’ gilded box are the noises of indiscernible origin ginned up by his foley team. While most of the e-ink related to this film has been understandably spilt over the much-ballyhooed sequence in which KStew gets cyber-bullied over the course of one working afternoon, the most crucial scenes come a bit earlier, when she spends the night in Lewis’ former home. Here Assayas inserts sounds while only suggesting their point of origin to force us into surrogacy with Maureen as she futilely grasps at understanding. The hand of a director can be as light as any ghost—to the point of imperceptibility." [The AV Club]
Elizabeth Wurtzel on her cancer and lack of fear thereof:
"I have breast cancer as a result of the BRCA gene, so it was preventable. All Ashkenazi Jewish women should get tested for the BRCA mutation, we now know, because half the time there is no way to know that you have the gene, and one in forty Ashkenazi Jews carries it. At one time it bothered me that I have a disease I could have avoided through prophylactic mastectomy. I don’t feel that way anymore. I like the person I am with cancer and because of cancer. Yes, that thing happened. I evolved." [The Guardian]
"I have breast cancer as a result of the BRCA gene, so it was preventable. All Ashkenazi Jewish women should get tested for the BRCA mutation, we now know, because half the time there is no way to know that you have the gene, and one in forty Ashkenazi Jews carries it. At one time it bothered me that I have a disease I could have avoided through prophylactic mastectomy. I don’t feel that way anymore. I like the person I am with cancer and because of cancer. Yes, that thing happened. I evolved." [The Guardian]
Eleven female directors reveal the sexism they've experienced in the film industry, experienced professionals treated with less respect than newbie males:
"On my first assignment when I went by to meet the executive producer, he came out to the lobby, his hand outstretched to greet me. Then he stopped in his tracks, withdrew his hand, and said, “You’re a woman!” Guess the name “Marty” caught him off guard. He never did shake my hand. The next day, I was off the show and a guy was reassigned. Years later, I was having meetings regarding directing, and was often told by producers, “We had a woman director last season, and it didn’t work out too well.” I never asked if any of the men “didn’t work out.”" [The Wrap]
"On my first assignment when I went by to meet the executive producer, he came out to the lobby, his hand outstretched to greet me. Then he stopped in his tracks, withdrew his hand, and said, “You’re a woman!” Guess the name “Marty” caught him off guard. He never did shake my hand. The next day, I was off the show and a guy was reassigned. Years later, I was having meetings regarding directing, and was often told by producers, “We had a woman director last season, and it didn’t work out too well.” I never asked if any of the men “didn’t work out.”" [The Wrap]
Patrick Stewart writes about auditioning for the late John Barton, co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company:
"On a cold, wet November evening in 1965, I plodded nervously across the Bancroft Gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had at last been accepted to audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company, although a Sunday evening would not have been my occasion of choice. I was in rep at the Bristol Old Vic company and Sunday was my only day off. I would have preferred the afternoon, but what the hell – they were seeing me and I had waited four years for this day to arrive." [The Guardian]
"On a cold, wet November evening in 1965, I plodded nervously across the Bancroft Gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had at last been accepted to audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company, although a Sunday evening would not have been my occasion of choice. I was in rep at the Bristol Old Vic company and Sunday was my only day off. I would have preferred the afternoon, but what the hell – they were seeing me and I had waited four years for this day to arrive." [The Guardian]
The BBC's new arts slate includes actual Shakespeare productions shot in a theatre setting:
"The trilogy comprised of Julius Caesar (first seen at the Donmar in 2012), Henry IV ( 2014) and a new production of The Tempest. All three plays were first performed together in a new purpose-built theatre behind King's Cross station in 2016. [...] Julius Caesar will air on BBC4 in 2018, with Henry IV and The Tempest available to watch on the iPlayer." [What's On Stage]
"The trilogy comprised of Julius Caesar (first seen at the Donmar in 2012), Henry IV ( 2014) and a new production of The Tempest. All three plays were first performed together in a new purpose-built theatre behind King's Cross station in 2016. [...] Julius Caesar will air on BBC4 in 2018, with Henry IV and The Tempest available to watch on the iPlayer." [What's On Stage]
Romola on Measure for Measure.
TV Shakespeare Unlocked was a documentary series which ran on the BBC during the season of Stratfordian mayhem in 2012. A later series was broadcast on Sky Arts and now a third run has been announced with the remarkable news that future Doctor Who Romola Garai will be presenting an episode about Measure for Measure (in which she played Isabella at the Young Vic in 2015):
"In addition to Hunt, Season 3 hosts and the plays they explore include F. Murray Abraham (The Merchant of Venice); Brian Cox (Julius Caesar); Simon Russell Beale (The Winter's Tale); and Romola Garai (Measure for Measure). A host has yet to be announced for an episode about Richard III."The USA Today version of the story chooses to focus on Helen Hunt and Much Ado. It is a very good line up.
Months and months.
About After the films and seasons, this year's title bars on this blog will be months. So firstly it's ...
January Jones
Doctor Who renewed for another five years.
TV ... if this press release published in Toy World Magazine and copied by the Merchandising site is a guide:
The other nugget. Eleven or more new hours of content for 2018. So that's at least the 10 regular episodes announced (including ads presumably). Does that mean there will be a Christmas special next year? [via]
"The regeneration of the Doctor in the 2017 Christmas episode, as well as last year’s revelations about the new series, engaged with fans across the globe, as it was unveiled that Jodie Whittaker will play the first female Doctor in the show’s history. 2018 marks a true regeneration for the franchise, with a five year evergreen strategy built around a commitment to a solid content pipeline, delivered through platforms relevant to the BBC’s audiences."Of course this isn't technically news. When the BBC made a deal in China last May, the company in question was given a first look at series 12-15 which implied the longevity. But this confirms the commitment.
The other nugget. Eleven or more new hours of content for 2018. So that's at least the 10 regular episodes announced (including ads presumably). Does that mean there will be a Christmas special next year? [via]
The 3000.
Life Yesterday I systematically went through and unfollowed three thousand people on Twitter. Since the change in US presidency and Brexit, Twitter had become unusable. Every time the pumpkin in chief tweeted, even having blocked him, my timeline would echo and re-echo every word, comment on it, offer some hot takes, some jokes and although that's fine initially with a chamber that large it became deafening drowning out everything else. Partly it's because of the number of "random" journalists I followed on various publications for whom its their job (sort of) but at a certain point this tipped over into *everybody*.
I had a few rules. No one who was following me back. If it was someone or something I genuinely liked or connected to, they and that remained. So everyone Doctor Who. Most people related to Shakespeare. I pretty much dumped everyone film related but I expect a lot of those will creep back in, but organically, just the websites and magazines and YouTube channels I read and watch rather than as much as possible just in case I missed anything as was the case. But all of the athletes went as did the literally hundreds at certain media organisations. Twitter is a hoarders paradise, collecting feeds just in case there's something interesting. Just in case.
My timeline is quieter, not updating as often. But more importantly I don't feel any less informed than I did before. So far. I saw all of the Golden Globes news from last night (Go Natalie Portman!) and the few journalists and columnists who remain are the ones which I'd usually pay attention to anyway. Slowly I'll probably follow back a fair few people, but it'll be organically rather than just opening up a list somewhere and add everybody to the point that there's so many of them in my timeline posting in-jokes I feel like an employee. More's to the point, I'm less likely to miss what's written by friends. Which was the original point of Twitter, wasn't it?
I had a few rules. No one who was following me back. If it was someone or something I genuinely liked or connected to, they and that remained. So everyone Doctor Who. Most people related to Shakespeare. I pretty much dumped everyone film related but I expect a lot of those will creep back in, but organically, just the websites and magazines and YouTube channels I read and watch rather than as much as possible just in case I missed anything as was the case. But all of the athletes went as did the literally hundreds at certain media organisations. Twitter is a hoarders paradise, collecting feeds just in case there's something interesting. Just in case.
My timeline is quieter, not updating as often. But more importantly I don't feel any less informed than I did before. So far. I saw all of the Golden Globes news from last night (Go Natalie Portman!) and the few journalists and columnists who remain are the ones which I'd usually pay attention to anyway. Slowly I'll probably follow back a fair few people, but it'll be organically rather than just opening up a list somewhere and add everybody to the point that there's so many of them in my timeline posting in-jokes I feel like an employee. More's to the point, I'm less likely to miss what's written by friends. Which was the original point of Twitter, wasn't it?
More Slings and Arrows.
TV Find embedded about the opening episode of the second series of Slings and Arrows, the Canadian comedy drama about a theatre company starring Paul Gross and as you can see from the in episode screenshot Rachel McAdams. This has been something of a unicorn for me, having bought and enjoyed the first series (which I reviewed here abouts over eleven years ago). The rest of the series is available and been added to my watching list.
It's been published by Encore+ an effort by various media organisations in Canada to upload their content to YouTube to make it accessible to the country and around the world. The various Degrassi series are already up there as is the whole of The Littlest Hobo and Due South. There are also some feature films, although most of them are now blocked due to international rights issues but mercifully that doesn't include the superb Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould.
Think of one dramatic event from your life (an accident, a fight, a loss) and write the event backward.
462 The meal was fine, I think.
Was this something they did often?
Why me?
Describing what happened to her helped, especially since the whole incident seemed so strange.
I was still quite shaken when I met my friend in Warrington.
So when the bus came, I clambered on and continued the journey, on to the train too.
Even in the late 90s, I'd learnt to just carry on where possible.
But I didn't feel the need to cancel the evening.
The pain in my throat from sobbing didn't help.
My eye socket, lip and cheek were already beginning to hurt, the latter from my teeth scratching me on the inside of my mouth.
I cried as the shock overwhelmed me briefly.
I slumped against the inside of the bus shelter.
Across the road and up the street, I could hear them still laughing.
Quickly.
They ran away.
Which I wouldn't even know how to.
Perhaps they were expecting me to punch back.
Their turn to be surprised.
Then to make full use of my size at that time, which was considerable, and with arms stretched burst at them, roaring, making sure not to touch them.
My first reaction was shock.
He seemed surprised.
Hard.
He'd punched me.
In the middle of my face.
His fist made contact.
Then one of them began shadow boxing with me as the wall, all three of them laughing.
I froze.
I'd been in similar situations of bullying at school and this took me right back there.
Despite being shorter and at least ten years younger than me and at least a foot or two shorter, they were intimidating, with their crew cut hair and tracksuits.
They stopped and stood around me, my back to the glass wall of the shelter.
Eventually they reached me, but didn't walk past as I'd hoped.
"Go on a diet."
"Fat bastard."
True it was most often people shouting at me from car windows, so brave, but sometimes it was passers-by in the street.
Usually in these situations and it wasn't unusual at that time, I simply ignored it.
"You fat bastard" that sort of thing.
They'd already begun cat calling me as they approached.
I'd watched them walking towards me from up the road, in the direction the bus was due to come.
Three teenage boys approached me.
So I waited and waited and waited.
It was the early evening, so the buses into town were infrequent and I must have just missed one although it was difficult to tell because the timetables in Liverpool are usually nothing more than an approximation of when the buses will arrive.
All on expenses.
She invited me along to be the shadow person who often appears in reviews and to justify ordering more food from the menu so she would have more to write about.
An old pen pal from college who had just begun working at a local newspaper, I think as part of her employment experience on a journalism course, had been given the opportunity to review a Greek Taverna in Warrington.
This is the story of the time I was punched in the face by a total stranger.
Girl.
Blog! Zoe Margolis who back in the day was Abby Lee from Girl With A One Track Mind has uploaded her annual blog post. Parts of it resonate:
"Depression, and its close friend anxiety, are daily uninvited gatecrashers to the party that is my mind; whilst I generally do a good job in hiding my suffering in public, privately I’m struggling with it, and these impact my ability to get stuff done. This is nothing unique to me, I know."My trick is to talk about it, but I know that's not always possible. Take care, Zoe.
Quatermass and the Pit, Take Two.
TV When watching dvd releases of programmes which were originally broadcast live, can we be sure that what we're enjoying is the programme as it was originally seen by the initial viewership?
Perhaps not according to this essay from Olive Wake at British Television Drama about the practice at the BBC in the 50s and 60s of rerecording material to replace fluffs and problems which may have crept in during the live broadcast to be edited into the mastertape for repeat broadcast and international sales.
So the dvd release of Quatermass contains a mishmash of live broadcast and rerecorded scenes:
Perhaps not according to this essay from Olive Wake at British Television Drama about the practice at the BBC in the 50s and 60s of rerecording material to replace fluffs and problems which may have crept in during the live broadcast to be edited into the mastertape for repeat broadcast and international sales.
So the dvd release of Quatermass contains a mishmash of live broadcast and rerecorded scenes:
"A document I uncovered in BBC files while undertaking unrelated research confirmed that Cartier practised re-recording on at least one episode of the next Quatermass serial, Quatermass and the Pit. A short letter confirms details of an extra payment due to actor André Morell for his participation in “retakes for the telerecording” of the fifth episode of the serial.3 In this case, there was no scheduled repeat of the production but in view of its prestigious status, following the success of the two previous Quatermass serials, there was a much greater chance of later repeats or of foreign sales than for most programmes, which would likely have been reason enough for re-recording to be practised. A repeat was eventually screened by the BBC a year later."[via]
My Favourite Television Moment of 2017.
TV The Good Place. You know the one. Even if you've managed to remain spoiler free, you know that something extraordinary happens and even if you know that you're not at all prepared when you discover exactly what that is. Truthfully, there were a couple of other candidates, Audrey's dance in the Twin Peaks revival (which is a film apparently so doesn't count here), John Oliver roasting Dustin Hoffman (which was a camera phone clip so probably doesn't either) and the very recent "Oh brilliant!" (which I'll be considering at length in the new year).
The Good Place is special. Like All Along The Watch Tower or The Red Wedding, it upends the viewers expectations of the kind of show they're watching by apparently throwing out its entire premise. The effect is rather like if the characters in FRIENDS got to the end of the first season and were seen to wake up in suspended animation chambers and we discovered they were actually on a deep space mission and the sitcom New York we'd been watching was a simulation. Ross and Rachel were already married, Chandler and Joey were partners and Phoebe was the Captain. Or something.
As has numerously been said, the reconfigured show continues unabated and with an even clearer character through line and benefits from its unpredictability aided by a superb cast who're able to inhabit the various degrees of memory and experience and demonstrate the subtle differences at each turn. But I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free which explains the lack of close analysis. Except to say that when the history of television in this period is written, The Good Place should be seen as one of the pinnacles of its form. God know how they're framing it in academia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)