Napoleon is utter garbage. Avoid it at your peril. Barbie gave me a headache that lasted three days. The last decent film I saw at the cinema was A Quiet Place. I tend to avoid cinemas - too many disrespectful nerks on their phones, literally holding conversations. The best films have been done. If I'm in the mood for a film, I reach for The French Connection, The Day of the Jackal, Shawshank etc. Other than that, I stick to my boxsets of Minder, Only Fools, Porridge, Rising Damp and other works of comedic genius.
Agreed, cinema is not what it was. And the pay-TV networks like Netflix are little better. They are all doing 'cinematic style' TV spin-offs of Movie franchises, which initially attract curious viewers but then (in my experience) disappoint. Being something of a Star Wars follower I subscribed to Disney+ which has made several TV series spin-offs based on the genre. These episodes are rich with panoramic scenery and special effects, giving the impression of a big screen experience. And they have recruited many of the original movie actors - presumably paying them vast sums. But the stories told are unsatisfying. They take a plot, which could be explored in a two hour conventional movie, and string it out into maybe 8 (or more) half hour episodes. And then when you reach the series finale the story is not resolved - because they want to extend it to a second series. Frankly it didn't take me long to get bored of that. And the end credits of these TV episodes are loaded with Chinese script. So no need to wonder where the money is coming from.
There's a new 40th anniversary remix of 'Band Aid' being released for this Christmas. Apparently it mixes vocals from the 1984 original with some from a 30th year version recorded in 2014. Ed Sheeran however doesn't want his 2014 vocals used again on this new version. A mate of his has convinced him that 'Band Aid' is full of "Colonial tropes" and it paints a bad image of Africa. The continent should apparently be promoted as a vibrant centre for setting up new businesses and tourism. Not a dusty desert where poor folks starve to death. By pushing this negative image of Africa Ed's mate says, Band Aid does more harm than good. Sir Bob Geldof has commented "Colonial tropes, my arse".
I just read about that, Lardi. . I'm not the biggest fan of Sir Bob's, but he is bang on when he says his 'miraculous little record' has saved thousands, if not millions, of lives and will continue to do so with this latest release. I make him right.
I'm in the middle of reading "The Fox of Glencoe". Hamish McInnes was head of mountain rescue at Glencoe for 30 years a real unsung hero of our times. If, like me, you are afraid of heights, read it at your peril. A fantastic book.
COP29 The biggest, most expensive piece of dramatic fiction since... since COP28. How often do our leaders expect the Public to swallow this "11th hour drama" routine. Slapping each other on the back in congratulation at pulling a "miracle deal" out of the fire. Expecting everyone else to admire their diplomatic skills. What a bunch of twats.
The new 40th anniversary Band Aid song was released today. Mixed together are elements of the 10th, 20th & 30th year versions as well as the 1984 original. But - shock horror the 1989 (5th year) version has been totally ignored! So no lyrics by Kylie Minogue, Sonia or Lisa Stansfield A musical tragedy
I haven't heard it yet, but I am a little crestfallen to know Sir Cliff will not be heard. A real shame.
Headline of the day goes to the Daily Star Covering the story of the whale that has migrated 12,000 miles from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, apparently in search of a sweetheart... "I suppose a humpback is out of the question?"
I hear Luke 'The Nuke' is on the short-list for SPOTY this year. It raises that old question about whether the Sports Personality award is purely for sporting achievement, or the amount of personality. Also, in my opinion darts is not a sport. But I accept that probably isn't a majority view.
Viewing figures have plummeted on BBC SPOTY, and it’s not a surprise why. It used to be a major TV event, played out over three hours on a Saturday evening, when presented by Harry Carpenter and then Desmond Lynam. The rot set in when the publicly funded cash waster gave up on covering many major sporting events live, thus restricting what SPOTY was able to show. But last nights three presenters, in a truncated and greatly diminished show, were all Woke picks - and the BBC wonders why their audience share has dropped off a cliff. Ordinary people don’t want to be force fed this left wing bollocks. Gaby Logan - left wing politics Clare Balding - DEI hire Alex Scott - DEI hire The fact that the BBC then made a point of trumpeting that 4 women in a row had won it …don’t men count ? Incidentally, I had never heard of the girl who won it - but any credible poll where normal sports fans vote would have seen Joe Root win - the greatest England Test batsman of all time …yet somehow beaten by a female runner
Anybody wondering about the politics rule - since SPOTY is a sports related topic it doesn't qualify as off-topic political posting. But a wider debate about the 'Wokeness' or otherwise of the BBC (if it should develop) will qualify. There is a grey area around sports other than football, which I'll try to navigate as fairly was possible. As I've said before I think SPOTY has had its day. Like Eurovision. Both belong in the past in my view, along with Miss World and the like. And I don't think either one matters much to many of us anymore.
Not having a go at the person who won it. Just that the whole thing has lost it's way. The last few words of your post @Watameire perhaps illustrates that.
It’s totally not needed, same goes for MOTD also. That said, suggesting viewing figures are down due to left wing political bias and wokeness is not correct - all viewing figures are down due to competition (we have more Chanel’s than we had in the 70s) plus consumer behaviour has dramatically changed. I don’t blame the bbc or its presenters it’s just things have moved on
a rare treat for Dr Who fans Monday evening at 9pm on BBC4; A colourized version of the last ever Patrick Troughton adventure, 'The War Games'. All of the early Dr Who stories (Hartnell & Troughton years) were filmed in black & white. The colourized version has also been reduced from 10 episodes (about 4 hours in total) to 90 minutes. The purists won't like that. But having watched the original on DVD, I would say it was a good story but at 10 episodes it was too long. So I'm hoping the edit will actually benefit the story.
