Last night, I got dewey-eyed and very nostalgic watching a retrospective show on BBC4 about the children’s TV show, Jackanory. For those of you not in the know, the premise is simple: a leading actor of the day sits in front of a camera and tells a story, which is serialised over 5 daily episodes. It’s a simple idea, but I remember it being very powerful and engaging as a young child. Watching the clips last night, I was surprised by just how good my memory was. It also reminded me that I’ve watched far too much TV during my life. But it was a simple pleasure and there’s something about the oral tradition of story telling that I really enjoy. With Dead Rock Star, the unpublished novel that I wrote last year, I spent most of the writing process telling the story verbally to The Missus while walking the dog. It’s a shame that the likes of Jackanory are consigned to the trash bin because its uncool or unhip. If it doesn’t move at a million miles an hour your days are numbered, my friend. But watching the documentary ran parallel with something I am working on at the moment and seeing how engaging storytelling is, it gave me new impetus to continue.
For Valentine’s, The Missus was happy with her obligatory flowers/chocolates/teddy bear combination and I received a much-appreciated bottle of aftershave. Remember, a little dab of aftershave can cover a multitute of sins.
Meanwhile, loads more crap on eBay…the links over on the right somewhere…
Category: Diary
Talking of Lanterna, I just heard an advert for the film “Proof” starring Gwyneth Paltrow on the radio and the background music was a track by Lanterna. Small world, innit?
While we are on the subject of movie trailers, the movie “Greyfriars Bobby” opens today. It is based on the classic story of a little dog who refuses to leave his masters grave. However, in this retelling of the story they’ve changed the protagonist from a Skye Terrier to that of a more aesthetically pleasing West Highland White – or Westie. I happen to own the laziest Westie in the world: Alex the Wonderdog, and I am including this trailer to remind myself just how lively and energetic this breed should be.
I’m not saying that Alex the Wonderdog is disloyal or anything, but the only way I’d be able to get him to stay at my graveside is if I was buried with a large ham or two dozen sausages. 😉
The top search strings that lead wary surfers to this site were:
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As you can see Malcolm Xerxes again has dominated the chart with the Ashbory Bass coming second. It’s good to see that people have been coming here for news about Highbury House publishing and looking for reviews of the Alesis Multimix16 Firewire. My own name could only scrape in at the bottom of the list, but at least the scourge of Nookie Bear has ended. Hurrah!
This month’s Google Mind FuckTM is:
Chantelle Houghton getting naked with George Galloway while looking at an offensive Islamic cartoon and fisting Michael Barrymore who is injecting his baby gravy into Pete Burns’ grossly inflated lips
As you can see, this month’s Google Mind FuckTM has a strong Celebrity Big Brother theme as this is still high on everyone’s search list. Don’t forget to tune in for next month’s string of offensive words guaranteed to get traffic to yoru website. 🙂
For all you political pundits out there, a little bit of satire courtesy of the WWW:
Well it tickled me and appealed to my low-brow sense of humour. 😉
The Shat recreates the final scene of the Brad Pitt movie Se7en. Boy, I’m spending too much time on Google Video…
While having a tidy this morning, I came across some ephemera from my past which, as per usual, started a train of thought that led me back to the PC. The ephemera was a programme from a play what I wrote (TM – Morecambe and Wise) when I was 17. Forgive me if you have heard this one, but the story goes something like this. I am 17 years old and already my literary aspirations are reverberating around the college I attend. I am approached by two fellows from the music department who are looking for someone to write a play for them. They want to use the aforementioned play to act as a framework for their songs and wanted it to be in the vein of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
Of course, I accept. I could never turn down a challenge and so I set to work writing for these two. The leader of the pack was a guy called GL, he was everything I wasn’t. Handsome, out-going, very talented to the point of precocity.He could sing, dance, act, play the piano very well and write music. He could also fit a whole Big Mac into his mouth, but that’s another story. So I deliver the play and forget about it. Weeks later, I read in the local paper that the new drama wing to the college is being opened with a performance of the play what I wrote. However, the title has been changed and the writers are GL and SM, the two guys who asked me to write it. Of course, I respond the only way I know how by writing a letter to the local paper objecting to their story and claiming total misrepresentation.
My actions get me into hot water with the Head of the Faculty. “We don’t wash our dirty linen in public here,” I am told. The letter instantly earns me a promotion: I am to direct the play and get full credit. This is great, but the problem is that I am a shy 17 year old with no aptitude for drama or direction. Oh well, I wing it the best I could and go ahead with the play with only a week to curtain up. On the night of the first performance, I pick up a programme and notice that I have been omitted off the credit list once again. Me and The Missus-to-Be (boy we go back a long, long way) make it our job to print addendums to the programme and slot them in at the last moment. The disaster is averted.
Anyway, I find this programme in my box of literary memories this morning and I remember GL. After the play, GL completely ignored me whenever I saw him around the college. It was if I never existed. As time passed, I realised that he was one of those people who climbed on the back of others to get where he wanted to go. His talent was actually surrounding himself with even more talented people, using their ideas and claiming them for himself. I saw him do this with his musical writing partner, SM, who no longer aspires to creative pursuits and instead made his career in IT.
So I google old GL out of curiosity and discover that he is working in the US. He is the Creative Director for some religious Disneyland in Orlando and bleats on about “putting God into people”. Jesus H Crackers, I think. But then, in a weird logical way, it all kind of makes sense.
Meanwhile, I got The Missus back last night and she told me all about her magical mystery tour in France. She brought back all manner of sweet goodies from a Patisserie she visited. Much lip-smacking went on.
Today, I found a really cool clip of Mike Oldfield and his band playing a snippet of Ommadawn, courtesy of Google Video:
I’ve just listed some more detritus from my CD collection. Tuck in, folks. I know you really wants it:
CLICKERY HERE