Holy Flying Circus is presented right out front as surreal fantasy and includes Stephen Fry (briefly) as God, but the most surreal concept prompted by Holy Flying Circus is that they could be trivialising Monty Python. That is ridiculous, as is my generations deification of them; but the reaction against Life of Brian was no joke. It demonstrated the gulf between British Christianity and treatment of religion elsewhere. At the time it seemed like religion had been dealt a lingering death blow by a few comedians. Looking back now it was a sudden dip on the road toward 9/11. Life of Brian is silly, but it's not trivial.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
HOLY FLYING CIRCUS vs COMIC STRIP PRESENTS : THE HUNT FOR TONY BLAIR review
Holy Flying Circus is presented right out front as surreal fantasy and includes Stephen Fry (briefly) as God, but the most surreal concept prompted by Holy Flying Circus is that they could be trivialising Monty Python. That is ridiculous, as is my generations deification of them; but the reaction against Life of Brian was no joke. It demonstrated the gulf between British Christianity and treatment of religion elsewhere. At the time it seemed like religion had been dealt a lingering death blow by a few comedians. Looking back now it was a sudden dip on the road toward 9/11. Life of Brian is silly, but it's not trivial.
Treading water in the storm
I've been using the following distractions
Crimson Skies
Mad Men series 3 & 4
and some new versions of classic Brit comedy (see next post)
and I have developed a thing for Tina Fey's 30 Rock
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Preparing for drive from Fraserbrough to Bristol
Heading back early Friday morning, this is what I have in the car
German hands free kit
new Music
Kasabian
Mastodon
Older new music
Pj Harvey: U Hu Her
MC5: Best of
Plus new car compilation
I've a hankering for heavy now the weather has changed ( set off from Devon two weeks ago in 25 degree heat, 6 hours of M5/M6 traffic jams listening to SuperHeavy and B52s Wild Planet)
I am addicted to the following podcasts and have saved up weeks of the following;
Best of the left
Football weekly
(both of the above funnier than any comedy podcast)
NPR Car Talk
Filmspotting
BBC Radio World Football Phone-in
And also ...
Dan Carlins Hardcore history, Death Throes of The Republic, drawing non too subtle allusions about the fate of Rome and the current state of US politics.
On previous trip in 08 driving The Walrus (my old Skoda Fabia) from Edinburgh to Reading in a day I listened to Dan Carlins three part history of The Punic Wars, which helped put my life in perspective.
Car prep based on trans continental experience - water, fruit, chewing gum and recent treat - coffee beans
Three sets of sunglasses
Would really like to be driving back over Cairngorms but want to clear Aberdeen before nasty morning traffic. Pit stop strategy on long trips is to time your stops before and to coincide with traffic bottlenecks like rush hour on M6, Birmingham and Bristol
So I aim to stop, probably for breakfast and a nap, at about 8.30-9.30
Have to be careful using Today Show and Podcasts as they make me sleepy, and Radio 5 (or more accurately what it has become) just annoys the hell out of me
I'll try and blog in transit
Sunday, 9 October 2011
After Tinker Tailer and Smileys People they should
ITVs slightly Thatcherist Sandbaggers tv series covers pretty much the same area as the above in the 1980s, but the real treat to track down is this, which really opened my eyes to the situation in Ireland
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0084053
.. It really deserves a remake itself, if only to remind is how precious Irish peace is
Friday, 7 October 2011
Britain two hours north of Edinburgh
Today the sweet Latvian girl cutting my hair admitted that if anyone at home opposite the Baltic was as friendly as any of the highland locals they would be locked away with a presumption of mental illness. Shortly after this after a stunning blonde wandered into the salon and the Latvian and her talked Russian for five minutes before she left.
Latvian then admitted the Russian blonde was a total stranger and anyone with Slav language issues in Fraserburgh is directed to her hairdressing salon.
Terrain is a bit Cornish but very flat. To give
you an idea of remoteness, nearby tourist attractions include National
Scottish Lighthouse Heritage Museum.
The accommodation and food in out of town community pub
(Ban Car Hotel) is unpretentious but quietly high class room-wise. The
Highland Chicken, stuffed with haggis, is pretty awesome, with poached
eggs and lean bacon for breakfast. The colour is failing on the big
widescreen in the bar and when it flickers blue all the faces on
screen look like Braveheart.
Local beer is Machlaclans best ale, which is the bitterest bitter I've
ever had. I'm off the whiskey because I dont want to see what happens
if I insist on Irish.
Weather certainly different to English heatwave, when I heard about
snow in Inverness from chatty Tesco woman yesterday it took a few
moments to realise Inverness is just up the road (well it's just west
of here actually, not up). Car is 20 degrees below what
I left in England, outside the seagulls are flying sideways in the wind
but the fish landing reports on the local radio in the morning make you
appreciate cozy highland IT centres.. which do look a bit like moonbases
MAD MEN keeping me sane
sagas. Since 2006 I've watched the entire of Soprano's, The Wire, Breaking Bad etc
etc,... and this is as good as any of them..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_men
and like the others reaches a brilliant climax at the end of third series, as if US tv is paced and planned with that in mind.
Now I think about it MM (and Watchmen) are responsible for my morbid Ayn Rand fascination.
In typical headf@ck fashion MM series 4 is a departure and hard to get into, I lasted nearly full 30 mins of the TERRA NOVA pilot last night (quite proud of my fortitude there), I'm going to start tonight on 30 ROCK (series 1 £2 @ tesco) so expect a 10,000 word appreciation of Tina Fey/s various credentials in next blog.
How much do we all owe Tina Fey? Sarah Palin gave up her presedential ambitions this week, frustrated that US voters had recognised her as a dangerous joke in away that they never did with George W. The two or three short SNL sketches with Tina Fey's hilarious version of Sarah Palin might go down as the most effective political satire in history..
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Test post direct from phone
Hoping it will brighten up so Cairngorms National Park is an option today