Quote of the Week

The stuff about Bowie’s codpeice is gold too

…Miss Piggy- and Gonzo-loving kids and parents must have thought this J.R.R. Tolkien-like epic would be an adorable Kermit-dressed-as-a-Hobbit romp. What they got were the Skeksis, lizard bird creatures that ate other Muppets and shrieked in such a way, I still can’t get it out of my head….

From The 26 Most Disturbing Kid Movies Ever, unsurprisingly discussing The Dark Crystal

So much for more frequent posts eh? Still devilishly busy at work and also feeling somewhat sick and run down. Hopefully things shall improve shortly.

On a spoilers-for-Battlestar-Galactica note….
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..They killed Cally!! You bastards!

(Do I really have to point out that that’s a nod to old-school South Park?)

I don’t care that she (apparently) smelled of boiled cabbage and developed total amnesia over Baltar putting her on the death list, I still loved her!

Booo evil crypto-Cylon woman! Boooo!

Eels!

Eels up inside ya! Finding an entrance where they can!

I finally manged to do something I’ve been intending to for ages last night, and caught an episode of The Mighty Boosh. I’ve been hearing good things about it for quite a while, but it’s never been on (as far as I know) at a decent time. Last night though SBS had it on at 9:00, so I checked it out.

What was it like? Well, the phrase “a screaming bag of madness” springs to mind. It was like my TV had suddenly started picking up signals from the alternative universe and was showing things beyond the comprehension of those us limited to a mere four dimensions. It was a cavalcade of unrelenting insanity, leaving the viewer (ie: me) with a shocked and confused impression of flying carpets, gorillas, flamingo legged pop-stars, pink squid-head things, terrifying green cockneys, and eels.

Needless to say I shall definitely be tuning in next week 🙂

And to share the love – Eels!

Torgo Spotters’ Guide

Not in the least bit true

Torgo features as the main villain in the following episodes of the classic series.

Torgo, Torgo’s Invasion of Earth, The Chase (Featuring Torgo), Torgo’s Master Plan, The Power of Torgo, The Evil of Torgo, The Day of Torgo, The Planet of Torgo, Death to Torgo, The Genesis of Torgo, The Destiny of Torgo, The Resurrection of Torgo, The Revelation of Torgo, and The Rememberance of Torgo.

He also briefly appears in a number of other episodes including The Hand Museum.

The appearance of his knees varied over time. In the earliest episodes the knees were primitive metal attachments that required manual operation by the actor. By the 1980s they were remote controlled by a stagehand, allowing the actor to concentrate on looking shifty and spouting ridiculous lines of dialogue in a halting voice.

(An actual sensible entry will probably be made later in the week)

Curses!

Comedians are ruining everything!

The other week it was the season finale of Spooks , a show that I rarely get to watch because the ABC puts it on at such ridiculous times. I decided to stay up and watch it this particular Friday however as the plot involved the Thames Flood Barrier – a feat of engineering I’ve always generally approved of, and the flooding of London, something I’ve generally approved of (at least in fiction) ever since I started reading FreakAngels.

(And yes, readers in the UK will at this point be scoffing and making general noises of disdain about how the Thames Flood Barrier episode is old and how the UK has got much better episodes now and Australia is so backwards. Well, when it comes to the ABC’s showing of Spooks I wholeheartedly agree.)

Anyway at one point during the episode one of the characters – the one who lost his wife a while back (I see the show so rarely that I don’t know the names of any of the characters so that description will have to do) – is having a nervous breakdown in the bowels of the Barrier (do flood barriers have bowels?). This is indicated by the well established trope of fixing the camera on his face, and having him go spinning around and around, so his head remains stationary while the background whirls around wildly. An effective visual metaphor for a mind gone out of control.

Except that it didn’t do that for me. All I could think of while watching it was “da dadada da dadadada da da dadada da da dadadada da DA DADADA DA! These are the surprising adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar featuring me, Sir Digby Chicken Caesar in my ongoing quest to find my nemesis, some bastard who’s presumably behind it all…”.

Another perfectly good cinematic communication method ruined by comedians. Curse you Mitchell and Webb! 😀

Sing and rejoice ye people of Televisionland!

The beginning of the end! As if.

For the dark one is cast down! And his empire ended until picked up by another network!

Well I was going to write about having a particularly Kevin Smithesque day – on the basis that I went into work even though I wasn’t supposed to, and I had to pick up a timetable for the number 37 bus (yeah I was stretching) – but this has been superseded by the wonderful news we were all hoping for.

Channel 10 has axed Big Brother!

To quote NASA – w00t!

Of course it will almost instantly be replaced by Gordon Ramsey’s Etiquette School or 20 to 1 Most Embarrassing Chainsaw Accidents or something equally inane, and there’s at least a 50/50 chance of it being picked up and reworked by another network – but for a little while we can rest in a state of blissful non-Big-Brotherness.

For tonight at least I shall sleep well!

A Crown of Marble

Various updates and the passing of the Modern Major General

It’s Canada Day today, and as a consequence JJJ Breakfast kept playing O Canada (the Canadian national anthem for those who require such enlightenment). I couldn’t help but notice that it (or at least the arrangement they were playing) bears quite a resemblance to part of Handel’s Water Music. This is not of any significance at all, just something I noticed 🙂

Similarly the guitar riff on the Grates new single Burning Bridges I believe it’s called, is taken directly from Pachelbel’s Canon. Again this does not signify.

On the subject of Canadians (which we were) everyone is probably waiting with bated breath (OK, maybe not) to hear how our expedition to the Supanova event on Sunday went. Well it really requires a full write up rather than the short summary I could fit in here, but suffice to say it was a fun day, despite my making a total fool of myself in front of Jewel Staite (which, lets face it, was likely to happen no matter what ensued).

(Jewel is Canadian, hence the segue – you knew that right?)

On a sadder sci-fi note I have to pause to mark the passing of Don S. Davis – perhaps most familiar as General Hammond in the Stargate franchise who passed away on Saturday at the age of 65. He will be missed.

As a rather inadequate tribute I here reprint the sonnet dedicated to General Hammond’s head I wrote many many years ago for a fanfic challenge…

I sing to all of Hammond, George by name,
The modern Major Gen’ral, it is said,
That many sing of valour, and of fame,
But person’ly I sing about his head,

A crown of marble it was once described,
By Hathor (she is evil, also old),
Her hair was artificial, you decide,
Perhaps beneath that wig she too is bald?,

But back to Hammond’s head, it well could scorch,
The eyes, reflecting any source of light,
By flouro-tube or halogen or torch,
By sun or moon a beacon shining bright,

The thing to note the most of Hammond’s hair,
Is just the fact it simply isn’t there,

Enough said.

I think I’m better than Chuck Swirsky!

Max Headroom! M-M-M-Max Headroom!

So, it’s the 22nd of November 1987. You’re in Chigaco Illinois, and you’re settling down to watch the late night showing of the Doctor Who serial The Horror of Fang Rock. Fifteen minutes in, this happens…

How could I not have heard of this before? It’s awesome!! 😀

(I’ll try and blog a bit more this week – work’s been insane)

(Oh, and the link’s probably not safe for work – or at least any work that values good taste)

Fun Facts You Never Knew!

If you believe any of this then you seriously need help.

1: Larry Gelbart – creator of TV series M*A*S*H – based many of the show’s characters on inhabitants of Allerton Illinois, the town where he grew up. Frank Burns was based on a neighbour who yelled at him for stealing apples, and B.J.Hunnicutt on an escaped circus hound that lived at a nearby junkyard.

2: The Gnu is not (as often assumed) an antelope. It is a species of warthog that evolved to fill the ecological niche left vacant by the schiessbok antelope when it became extinct around 12,000 years ago.

3: Most post offices are legally entitled to accept fingers in lieu of 10c stamps. Given steep rises in postage costs it is vitally important to make sure that one has correct change before attempting to send packages through the mail.

No TV makes Denys something something…

I’ll need a plastic bucket…

Go crazy? Don’t mind if I do!!

Well OK, it’s not quite that bad. But it’s still having an effect. Last night for instance I had the most appalling trouble falling asleep. I didn’t drift off until the early hours when I took the measure of snuggling up to some spare pillows and making believe that they were Alison Mack (Awwww, how sweet! And vaguely disturbing). I think I’m beginning to see why any extended period of TV deprivation should be preceded by a (Twitch City style) Pon Farr.

But seriously, the issues I’m having have less to do with TV deprivation and more to so with autism. We autistics have a natural tendency to organise our lives into rigid routines, and when those routines are suddenly forced to change it tends to mess us up badly. Having no TV in the evenings is a major change to my daily routine, and I’m suffering the consequences (mainly ill focused general anxiety). But sooner or later I’ll adapt – probably just in time to get my TV back, and start all over again 🙂

Ain’t life grand?

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