Musings on the byways of popular culture
It means having to watch the One Show, but footage shot by Leo Mckern in Austria during the filming of Help! is being screened and discussed this evening by Eleanor Bron, Abigail McKern and Paul McCartney’s stunt double (I just hope he’s called Billy Shears).
Actor Neil Pearson wants to sell this for £35k!
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My patience with Doctor Who has been stretched to breaking point in the last couple of years with far too much clever-clever plotting and story arcs that make absolutely no sense to me, and I’m far from a casual viewer. I felt Capaldi was desperately under served by the Moff, and wondered why no one had actually realised this who had anything to do with the production.
So much was my disillusionment that I actually put off watching the Christmas special until quite recently – it was better than I feared, but stiil approached the new series with some trepidation.
But…what’s this..? An episode that actually made sense, with genuine humour, mild jeopardy, some scarey stuff and a sense of a new beginning. The word ‘reboot’ came immediately to my mind, and the title of the episode (The Pilot) may be quite clever. You could start anyone here as it required no knowledge of previous Who, and was all the better for that.
Final thoughts – Capaldi finally had a script worthy of the name, the new companions are fun, and the trailers for the series at the end look genuinely exciting.
Anyone else bothering to watch..?
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To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m posting this, except that I have to share it with some friends, and Facebook just feels too public. I also need to deal with this somehow, and maybe some of you have had similar experiences.
On Saturday 11th February I was driving from Devon to Essex to celebrate my cousin’s 60th birthday. I had my son alongside me, my wife in the back, and the iPod was on shuffle. It had been a good journey, and we were on the M4 not too far from London. I was in the middle lane, doing around 70, and about to overtake two cars, when the first car suddenly swerved towards us just as I was alongside….I instinctively swerved to the right to avoid a collision, and I was now heading for the central barrier and was swiftly turning sideways, so I managed to turn the car out of that, and now it was now fishtailing down the road and I was convinced it would flip over….somehow I managed to bring the car under control from that, and we carried on. The enormity of what COULD have happened soon sank in…if there had been » Continue Reading.
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Released at midnight! Download and streamed only at the moment apparently.
The video for No Plan features a series of TV screens in a shop called for Newton Electrical, a “wink, wink” reference to his character in the feature film The Man Who Fell to Earth. The song is included on a new EP that was recorded for the musical Lazarus.
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25/01/2017
I now have a spare ticket for this gig. Steve is an absolutely superb songwriter and raconteur- will be a splendid night. Downside is that you will be sat with me! £16 – that is a concession price for an old person but I’m sure that won’t matter as we can upgrade if necessary.
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As a Prime member I had an email today flagging his Bobness on special offer starting at 18.12 (!) this evening. No price detailed yet…might just go for this as I was tempted at £99.99, which is the current price.
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What does it sound like?:
It’s a bit odd to claim that a mono version of a record can be revelatory, but this truly is! I have to ‘fess up and admit straight away that I have coincidently just upgraded my CD player, but playing the ‘old’ versions to compare confirms that these are (mostly) brilliant. A particular success is the first album, which packs both a real sonic punch and also allows you to clearly hear the instrumentation as if you are in the studio. Similarly, Aftermath is a particular treat in this respect. Beggar’s Banquet and Let It Bleed have probably only been included for completeness (particularly the latter), but my original vinyl BB was mono, so this is fine for me.
What does it all *mean*?
Well, it means buying the flippin’ albums all over again, but it does mean a definite upgrade to the listening experience. A few gripes – the discs are in nice replica record sleeves, but omit the Decca and London logos for some reason (and include an abkco reference…grrrr!). I would have preferred the same approach as the Beatles mono set, which are in perfectly detailed period sleeves, including the inner » Continue Reading.
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Venue:
Plymouth Pavilions
Date: 05/03/2015
Booked the moment this went on sale, I’d seen him at the same venue on the last tour (just before Wake Up The Nation) and he’d been fantastic, so was really looking forward to this! The venue was configured as part standing and part seated, but we went for seats this time – best in the house, right above and behind the sound and lighting desks. He opened with Uh Huh, Oh Yeah, but the set was light on hits, with the audience growing a bit restive as they waited for the next tune they recognised. The new material though is strong – I particular liked White Sky and I’m Where I Should Be, and he played 5 new songs out of 24, but there was the distinct impression he was trying stuff out on the first night of the tour. The crowd only really got going for Porcelain Gods (bloody brilliant version), Peacock Suit, Broken Stones and the closer, Changing Man. Tellingly, the two encores weren’t really as a result of the audience clamour, more of a going through the motions! Sound quality at the Pavilions can be variable, and this one was » Continue Reading.
