posted
Did anybody watch (Celebrity) Wife Swap last night? Fascinating.
I thought Vanessa Feltz, who I'd always vaguely and lazily dismissed as merely fat and mouthy, came off rather well- articulate, interesting and personable. She was a bit rude when defending her toyboy lover at the end, but as she's obviously newly besotted that's to be expected I suppose.
Some absolute TV comedy gold:
1. The miserable, self-absorbed, catastrophically BORING Paul Daniels insisting on doing a "magic trick" as soon as he meets someone- most of which didn't work. Excrutiating.
2. Vanessa's fiance, Ben Somebody, who had a number two hit record about 8 years ago describing himself as a "musician". His life appeared to consist of reading celeb gossip magazines, performing his one song at provincial night clubs and going on "celebrity nights out" with former members of Boyzone. When the lovely Debbie McGee (very sweet woman) politely mentioned that she'd never heard of him, he replied in disbelief, "what, you'd never heard of my song?" and launched enthusiastically into the chorus. Lolololol.
I'm also enjoying Coronation Street at the moment.
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posted
last night I watched 5 minutes of a program about stunts, narrated by Eddie Ervine, and two episodes of Raymond. The stunt show wasn't so good, but Raymond was ok. Later on I watched maybe ten minutes of standup.
Louise watched Wedding Belles on 4oD, and from what I could gather, that was pretty good. Lots of scottish women saying ' yerra wee shite', some sex, some drugs, and the lovely / scary Michelle Gomez in full effect.
Yerra wee shite! - Irvine Welsh favourite Michael Gomez in her latest tv role as a scottish lady.
[ 02.04.2007, 07:32: Message edited by: Jimmy Big Nuts ]
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posted
Eddie Irvine should not be allowed on TV. British F1 drivers are either complete pricks (Irvine, Jackie Stewart, etc) or totally devoid of personality (Damon Hill, David Couthard, etc). Lewis Hamilton has already established that he’s going to fit into the latter category, great driver that he is. In fact the only British F1 driver I think I could ever tolerate being locked in a room with for more than a few minutes would be Nigel Mansell.
I don’t think it’s just F1 either, come to think of it. Colin McRae, great driver but my god is he tedious.
Of course this is just going on interviews, so perhaps not totally representative. Kimi Raikkonnen for instance is one of the least interesting people ever to have stepped in front of a camera, but apparently is quite the hellraiser in ‘real life’.
posted
God, nobody watches television anymore - it's all about YourTubes these days. Didn't you get the memo, VP?
I enjoyed Louis Theroux's programme about the "most hated family in America". They're an insanely homophobic family and seem to be the sole members of the *Westboro Baptist Church which has some rather interesting opinions on the Bible. Their main hobby is picketing the funerals of US troops who'd died in Iraq, because by defending the USA, they are 'fag enablers'.
Theroux was on form as ever, and almost brought one church member to tears as he asked her if she minded being hated by society because of her family's opinions. After choking back the tears, she recited some of the lines that had obviously been fed to her from birth.
Visit the church's *website for more fun, and read an *Theroux's thoughts on the programme.
posted
I sometimes watch a program about the Bullrun, in which celebrities drive ferraris through the desert and get drunk / flash their boobs / get arrested. It showcases the worst side of humanity, as the pampered ***** laugh in the face of anybody who gets annoyed or offended by their car-razy hijinks. But when I watch it, I can't help but wish I too had a ferrari, a desert, and some boobs.
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posted
I watched the Louis Theroux show too, I felt really sorry for the little (six year old) kid who got the Big Gulp cup full of ice up the side of his head thrown from a speeding car as they picketed something.
All in all they were a family of utter arseholes who would have all been vastky improved by sudden death... You have to feel sorry for them in a way though as they''d all been brainwashed by the old guy who was obviously a mental.
-------------------- my own brother a god dam shit sucking vampire!!! you wait till mum finds out buddy!
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: You have to feel sorry for them in a way though as they'd all been brainwashed by the old guy who was obviously a mental.
Not only was he a mental, but he refused to answer any of Theroux's questions. He was probably the most evasive interviewee I've seen - more so even than the frightening Eugène Terre'Blanche who Theroux interviewed in the South Africa episode of Weird Weekends. He seemed to have absolutely nothing to back up his opinions other than a few extremely misguided catchphrases. His sermon "You will eat your babies!" was particularly nutty.
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quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: His sermon "You will eat your babies!" was particularly nutty.
What caused his boner for teh gays? Why wasn't there the occasional "GOD HATES THIEVES!", "GOD HATES KILLERS!" or "GOD HATES FALSE IDOLATORS!" banner? Kinda makes ya wonder...
scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
Hmm. We watched the first half hour of wife swap like VP - hiding behind cushions at the absolute horror of it all. I have to say I agree - within about five minutes we'd had exactly the same conversations that it sounds like you had, namely:
1) in a choice between spending time with Vanessa and spending time with Paul, Debbie or Vanessa's freeloader boyfriend, Vanessa would be top of my list every time
2) 'How many times do you think that guy's going to break into his one song?' mused Bandy. Lots, as it turned out.
3) The magic trick. Oh God, the magic trick.
Also the Theroux thing. I thought a bunch of stuff about that too:
1) That there weren't enough of these people to make them a truly dangerous or notable sect, and that by giving them a platform you run the risk of making their extremely confused message (Lady Diana is a fag enabler?) appeal to a bunch of other ***** not smart enough to see beyond the words 'God hates fags'.
2) I wish I could interview like Louis Theroux, but MAN that guy's irritating. His life is based round constant self-affirmation - surrounding himself with the weak and insane in order to get his kicks out of being Joe Normal, the wise, moderate man of the people. A roundabout way to inspire hero worship, but it seems to work for most people.
Sorry for the listing. It's one of those days.
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quote:Originally posted by scrawny: I wish I could interview like Louis Theroux, but MAN that guy's irritating. His life is based round constant self-affirmation - surrounding himself with the weak and insane in order to get his kicks out of being Joe Normal, the wise, moderate man of the people. A roundabout way to inspire hero worship, but it seems to work for most people.
That sounds like a bit of a leap to me. I never really got the impression that Louis Theroux was after self-affirmation and - although I haven't seen this latest programme - a crucial part of the appeal of his Weird Weekends appeared to be his highlighting of the mundane, everyday aspects of people who live apparently 'weird' lives. In other words, he seems to pursue preceisely the opposite aim you observe. Rather than alienating himself from the freaks and wierdos and consequently positioning himself as 'normal' he seems more enthusiastic about identifying with them. The article Misc links to seems to back this up - he constantly re-affirms the idea that, in many respect this family he spent time with fits in with what most people regard as ordinary. Most of the shows follow the narrative of him finding out about some unusual lifestyle, ingratiating himself within it, reaching some kind of understanding and then often identifying with the subject and driving away with a wry observation on how we're all the same, really.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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posted
benway, were the two episodes of 'raymond' that you watched part of paramount channels 13 hour long 'raymond' marathon over the weekend? the guardian listing for the aforementioned made me laugh so much that i tore it out and am currently carrying it around in my wallet for when i feel sad and lonely and in need of emotional succour. for those of you who didnt see it, it looked something like this:
07.30 that 70s show 08.00 that 70s show 08.30 everybody loves raymond 09. 00 everybody loves raymond 10.00 everybody loves raymond 10.30 everybody loves raymond 11.00 everybody loves raymond 11.30 everybody loves raymond 12.00 everybody loves raymond 12.30 everybody loves raymond 13.00 everybody loves raymond 13.30 everybody loves raymond 14.00 everybody loves raymond 14.30 everybody loves raymond 15.00 everybody loves raymond 15.30 everybody loves raymond 16.00 everybody loves raymond 16. 30 everybody loves raymond 17.00 everybody loves raymond 17.30 everybody loves raymond 18.00 everybody loves raymond 18.30 everybody loves raymond 19.00 everybody loves raymond 19.30 everybody loves raymond 20.00 everybody loves raymond 20.30 everybody hates chris 21.00 everybody hates chris 21.30 everybody hates chris 22.00 everybody loves raymond 22.30 everbody loves raymond
i imagine something very similar in effect being pin- tacked to a signboard next to the gates of hell.
posted
i dont have a telly at the moment. i went to my sister's house and watched doctor who, which was fine. david tennant's hair was endearingly taller than in the last series. then we watched dreamcoat or whatever it was called. we had a sweepstake on how long it would take anyone to use the word 'journey' to refer to anything other than a protagonist literally moving from one physical space to another. i have no idea who won, though, because watching the programme was too unbearable a trial.
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posted
it was part of that Paramount Comedy marathon, yeah. They do a lot of marathons. The painful part is that in each ad break they'll show the same trailer for whatever marathon is coming next. So when you're lying in bed, drifting in and out of a painkiller sleep, it seems like you're listening to the same ad on a loop for hours on end.
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posted
Sometimes I think that Benway goes out of his way to nensure his life resembles a psychological torture experiment designed through a collaboration between Joseph Mengeles and Charlie Brooker.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Nathan Bleak: Rather than alienating himself from the freaks and wierdos and consequently positioning himself as 'normal' he seems more enthusiastic about identifying with them. The article Misc links to seems to back this up - he constantly re-affirms the idea that, in many respect this family he spent time with fits in with what most people regard as ordinary. Most of the shows follow the narrative of him finding out about some unusual lifestyle, ingratiating himself within it, reaching some kind of understanding and then often identifying with the subject and driving away with a wry observation on how we're all the same, really.
I've never found that. He always seems to be on some kind of crusade for his view, or 'normality'. Even in this programme he described himself as constantly trying to 'get through' to them to show them the error of their ways. I don't agree with anything they have to say, but I'm not convinced it's the role of the documentary film maker to evangelise his own take on the situation, no matter how insane the recipients of that message.
Maybe I'm judging it too harshly - but ever since his celebrity interviews which looked less like an attempt to understand the lives of his subjects and more like playground bullying - I've found his slightly smarmy attitude a little wearying.
Edit: WTF is 'smary'?
[ 02.04.2007, 10:08: Message edited by: scrawny ]
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quote:Originally posted by scrawny: WTF is 'smary'?
A modified soil moisture accounting and routing model, which apparently provides a more rational interpretation of the physical process of infiltration and also provides a tool for determining the actual infiltration rate under specific soil moisture conditions. Amazing really.
posted
I also watched parts of Wife Swap. I couldn't figure out why The BeGnomed One kept insisting that the disdain and rudeness he displayed towards Vanessa was caued by her being a journalist, rather than the fact that he is a pompous, self-important curmudgeon.
I am still glad that The Apprentice is back on, although whether I will continue to be glad remains to be seen. I am hoping that there will be a moment in this series that will make me laugh as much as the "Nicholas?.....Nicholas?.....Nicholas?.....I thought that was Nicholas" moment last time around.
I haven't been watching much telly, to be honest. I am nearing the end of my The Wire boxset marathon, following which I will probably make a start on Deadwood (I still haven't seen this yet).
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I thought the stuff about feeling and therefore knowing you're alive suggested that indeed 1973 was home, but that makes little sense in terms of Sam's knowledge of the present/future.
Bit of a cop out I thought.
[ 11.04.2007, 05:06: Message edited by: Boy Racer ]
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posted
I think he's alive, back in 1973. There was that line about not being alive when you can't feel anything, I know it's a bit literal, but he cut his thumb and felt nothing... WHOOSH! back to 1973 he kisses Annie and he gets a boner. That's where he was alive. They could've left it with Tyler jumping off the roof. That would've been well grimey.
quote:Originally posted by Boy Racer: but that makes little sense in terms of Sam's knowledge of the present/future.
Hmmm... but it's only 'knowledge' to us, in Sam's mind he could've made those connections about anything if his fevered unconscious wnated him to make them. Oh, he's called Cholmondeley, how ironic, that's the name of our much-loved Prime Minister in 2007! Mad Sam was making patterns fit to accomodate his delusion, dramatically they only had to be made to fit for us, the 21st centruy audience.
I'm loving the Apprentice. Saw the repeat of the dog episode last night. What is with Jadine and her Eclipse branding obsession? It seemed she only wanted clips on her dog blanket so she could turn it into an 'Eclipse' pun. No-one's heard of Eclipse before or since, you menner.
I'm getting a bit obsessed with telly these days. Avoid going out when something good's on. This is bad.
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quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: he cut his thumb and felt nothing... WHOOSH! back to 1973 he kisses Annie and he gets a boner. That's where he was alive.
So, on the plus side then, jumping off the roof and splatting all over the car park wouldn't have hurt at all..
-------------------- my own brother a god dam shit sucking vampire!!! you wait till mum finds out buddy!
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: he cut his thumb and felt nothing... WHOOSH! back to 1973 he kisses Annie and he gets a boner. That's where he was alive.
So, on the plus side then, jumping off the roof and splatting all over the car park wouldn't have hurt at all..
Precisely. He took that leap... that leap of faith, if you like... with the absolute conviction that he was not 'alive' in that current reality. Our expectation throughout the run of the two series was that he was a 21st century guy, in a coma, stuck in an imagined past, full of strange and ironic coincidences. The only voice to give us that impression, though, was Sam's. It was never independently asserted that there was any truth behind that assumption. Sam 'remembered' being hit by a car. He 'knew' he was in a coma. He heard voices of people, family and friends, that only he knew.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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