I get it but I’m not happy with it. If you don’t know Big Narstie has a TV programme on channel 4 which he hosts with Mo Gilligan. Big Narstie on Quiz of Everything and Mo Gilligan was on Quiz of 2018.
Enjoyable look at the mythology of US history. The first one is about the Revolution. No doubt I'll be picking holes in next week's episode on the American Civil War.
Also, Worsley looks strangely alluring in an NFL helmet. Ahem.
Enjoyable look at the mythology of US history. The first one is about the Revolution. No doubt I'll be picking holes in next week's episode on the American Civil War.
Also, Worsley looks strangely alluring in an NFL helmet. Ahem.
Just watched the first episode of BBC Northern Ireland's 'Soft Border Patrol', a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the brave men and women protecting the border between the UK and the EU in our happy Brexit future.
It's a very charming show in the tradition of highlighting the absurdities of petty officials' working lives. The cast are very likeable, and portrayed as believing they are making a difference. In the one I saw, there were several very good scenarioes, of which my favourite being the lady worried about Ebola entering Ulster. Definitely going to keep watching.
This amiable show has returned for a second series . As with the first series, some bits work better than others but it's all so charming I feel I can overlook the weaker material in favour of the belly laughs such as the woman protesting the 'Ks' or the massive and inexplicable spike for July on a pedometer's readout.
And if it's what our future will contain, we ought to be very afraid.
Mrs B and I smashed through The Umbrella Academy over the weekend; a Netflix production based on the Eisner Award winning comic series of the same name. The basic pitch is:
Quote:
On October 1, 1989, 43 women around the world give birth simultaneously, despite none of them showing any sign of pregnancy until labour began. These children are gifted with superpowers and abilities and seven of these children, Klaus, Luther, Diego, Allison, Ben, Vanya, and an unnamed Number Five, are adopted by eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Hargreeves creates "The Umbrella Academy", a superhero team using numbers to protect their identities. While six of his children work to save the world, Reginald keeps Vanya apart from her siblings' activities, as she has no powers of her own.
In the present day, Luther is an astronaut, Allison is a famous actress, Vanya is playing violin on stage, Klaus is a party animal with a drug addiction, Ben is a ghost only able to converse with Klaus while Diego has become a vigilante with a penchant for trouble. The estranged siblings learn that Reginald has died and gather for his funeral. Number Five returns from the future, revealing that a global apocalypse is imminent. Meanwhile, the reunited siblings try to uncover the secret of their dysfunctional family while beginning to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities.
So, it's pretty fucking weird basically. It's a story of mysteries essentially and the first few episodes are spent setting up a load of questions; some of which are known to the characters and just aren't explained to the audience initially, and others which are more central to the plot and the family are actively investigating as we go. This structure gives it all an instant hook and you're very quickly invested in finding out just what in the fuck is going on. Obviously there's a risk there because if the answers aren't forthcoming or satisfying then you're going to feel cheated, but the show nimbly avoids that trap to my mind simply by being well written and internally consistent. The latter is it's real strength because, although the setup is pretty weird, it plays out in such a natural way that you quickly becoming very accepting of it all and nothing is jarringly stupid or odd about it. It also doesn't make that classic fuck up of modern shows by sagging massively in the middle, there's maybe like one episode that isn't 100% essential and the rest of it's pretty trim with very little in the way of exposition dumps or badly introduced plot jumps. It's perhaps not quite as stylish and funny as the trailer would have you believe (there's no real moments to compare to the Tiffany number in the opening episode) but the actual show it becomes is more compelling for it's subtlety to my mind. Certainly I've enjoyed this more than a lot of things I've watched in the last year and it's the first thing in a long time that's been so compelling from episode to episode that it absolutely demanded a shotgunning. Very good stuff indeed that I reckon would be enjoyed by most people on here.
I'm up to episode 8 I think, I'm enjoying it and really like the style. It's a mildly fresh take on the superhero trope, and definitely worth watching.
Is anyone else watching The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC 2?
It's great. It has a real charm about it.
I'm a big fan.
I love the Sewing Bee. One of my friends won the last series. Mind you, I’m really missing Claudia Winkleman presenting this year. Joe Lycet isn’t bad, but Claudia was pure mischievous beauty, but also really seemingly interested in all the people andcehat they were making, and she was so caring if there were ever tears.
Fleabag 2x01: holy shit, Phoebe Waller-Bridge might be the best writer working in TV today. Utterly amazing work.
I'm almost scared to watch it because the first series was so brilliant--and seemed like such a stand alone work--that I'm worried a new season won't stand up.
Relatedly: watch Crashing if you haven't already. It's more 'actual comedy' than whatever the hell you'd describe Fleabag as, but still brilliant and as an actress she continues to be brilliantly compelling.
She only appeared in one episode I think--though I vividly remember that episode for embarrassingly lecherous reasons-- but it was very funny in general and quite a few of the faces will be familiar.
I'm intrigued by Baptiste on the Beeb. The plot twists (Tom Hollander's character is a goody.... No, wait, he's a baddy...... No, he's a goody after all, but not the goody you thought he was, but a goody who's committed a crime), and the location of a particular stolen item are a bit like a comedy thriller, e.g. the missing diamond in Snatch. And yet it's definitely NOT a comedy, but I found my self thinking it was getting a bit absurd as more and more twists are introduced.
Sewing bee has inspired me, I've done fuck all sewing recently, but I've just ordered some neoprene scuba material and some quilted stretch fabric. I'm going to try and make a tailored jacket out of it, which may look awesome, or may look utter shit
I’ve tried to watch “Leaving Neverland”, honestly I tried, but, man, it’s really hard going hearing the graphic sex descriptions. Talking about spreading little boy butt cheeks begins a mere 30 minutes in and it doesn’t stop. I’m not sure I can watch much more.
Bloody hell, I’ve started to watch the second part of this.
Turns out that one of the guys (victims) being interviewed is only the bloody choreographer of N-Sync & Britney Spears and credited with some of their respective successes.
Finished. Very difficult to watch, not because it’s Michael Jackson, but because it must have been immensely difficult for these victims to come forward and tell their stories. Worse than Saville? Must be. A quick smash through Twitter reveals a whole bunch of freaking nutcases defending MJ. It’s a shame that the director wasn’t able to get hold of Gavin Arvizo, the cancer patient that led to the trial of MJ where he was cleared on all charges. Given the backlash that the two victims suffered after coming out about Jackson I dare say we won’t see an outpouring of victims coming forward like the Saville case. The rabid fans will see to that.
No way I could watch that. I'm a witness (/victim) in a child sex abuse case that happened 20 years ago, it's supposed to get under way this week but it's already been suspended since October last year so I'm not feeling the faith. To be honest the whole justice system thing closely resembles a massive cluster fuck where no one knows what's going on, not very confidence inspiring. There's loads of stuff on TV about paedos and it's incredibly uncomfortable even seeing the trailers, especially on Netflix auto fucking play - fuck you Netflix. I'm pretty anxious about the trial, never been involved in one before and I've got this unshakeable feeling that the cops are going to fuck it up somehow. I just don't trust them to get it right, probably due to the aforementioned lack of arse-from-elbow knowledge. I think my point was I always find it pretty shocking the casual way in which people talk about child sex offenders but that's really more to do with my own trauma and it's actually a good thing that it's more out in the open and being discussed.
Love to you Wookie, and strength to you for the trial. Will be thinking of you and hoping dearly that justice and the law both try their absolute best to do the right thing and find what they need to make it happen.
Line Of Duty is back and I am HYPED for what's gonna go down this season.
I must say though:
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
I called it early doors that McQueen, the lass in the criminal gang, wasn't the undercover officer. That was too obvious a play for so early in the show.
Finished Fleabag last night, what a perfect ending. Happy but bittersweet, satisfying without being twee.
So many great lines too.
'You know what a bassoon is? It's a cry for help!'
I don't think anything will ever beat her sister screaming "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY MISCARRIAGE!" from the first episode. Mostly because it's a set of words I could've ever have imagined anyone stringing together in the same sentence.