The first is the man who said these words before adding his maniacal laugh
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller
Yes, Vincent Price was an unlikely rapper but that is just what he did on Michael Jackson's Thriller. But he had a film career of over 50 years making his name in the horror genre. Here is a tribute to his career, set to the song he had no small part in making memorable.
The man who lost to Richard Nixon in 1968 was Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who was over his father's drug store in Wallace, South Dakota 100 years ago today. He is the only second generation Norwegian (on his mother's side) to have served as either PotUS or VeeP. Here is his acceptance speech for nomination to be Johnson's running mate in the 1964 election.
Finally, no she's not 100 years old, but Peri Gilpin the actress who played Roz Doyle in Frazier is half way there today. Many happy returns, so to celebrate here is a montage of Roz moments.
It got me thinking what would have been the five cryptic clues that Ted Rogers would have read out on the show 3-2-1 for the five Labour Leadership contenders.
For younger readers 3-2-1 was a Saturday evening entertainment/quiz show by Yorkshire Television which had sketches intermingled with cryptic clues for contestants to try and guess what prizes they were. One of the prizes was Dusty Bin for which the contestants actually got a new bin and a small souvenir version. So here are my set of clues can you tell who is who:
I'm off to the races and that suits me fine But this two horse race needs a new winner this time. I'll energetically bring about change My words once laid out the Scottish range.
I've jumped to the challenge since I was born But Swedish robes have my reputation torn Some call me tasteless, but net beware Our kids are best under two parent care.
I'm no coach potato any day of the week I'm the first or so my tutor might speak. Some Finns aren't so white I learnt to my cost My child will be educated bugger the cost.
My ancestry is an important part of who I am But I do with education is like American. Though not with the Tracey's international rescue Grey matter was the porn writer's 'hey you!'.
JFK was a way to help with my studies But my family and animals is part of the stories. It's good to talk but not always while driving But second homes really ought to be in the West Riding.
Miranda Hart did a review of 2009 the other day and it was hilarious. At the time there was a lot of banter going back and forth across the Internet between those of us in different political parties as there were edited versions of all the leaders words to distort their messages.
Thing is us political types are more than capable of laughing at ourselves so here they are in all their splendour.
First up the Prime Minister.
Next the man who would be king.
And finally in the interests of balance and impartiality Nick Clegg*.
*I way off to Nick's left almost as far left as I could be [insert you own comment if you want] ;).
There were a number of references to Star Wars in tonight's Doctor Who.
Rassilon killing one of those around him at the table and striking terror into the rest a very sith like character trait of Emperor Palatine or Darth Vader.
The guard who was an inch too tall in the mansion, just like Luke being too short when he rescued Leah.
The haphazard and bumpy rescue of the Doctor in his wheelchair was like Chewbacca rescuing the recently released from carbonite Han Solo.
"Worst rescue ever" The Doctor. "You call this a rescue plan. Some plan!" Leia.
The Asteroid Lasers on the Vinvocci vessel were straight steals from the Millennium Falcon.
And doesn't Wilf's whistles from the laser turrent sound awfully like R2D2.
And the Vinvocci vessel sweeping over the sea sounds like Chewbacca.
The ominously large Gallifrey and all hell breaking loose hanging over earth are similar to the Death Star.
Murray Gold's music also at times had echoes of John Williams score.
The Space Bar and the Aliens band not quite up to Tattooine cantina standards but the Doctor sorts out a new wingman for Captain Jack. Alonsy!
And of course the sacrificial 'death' to save another just like Obi Wan and Vader.
So maybe under Steven Moffat we will be into a New Hope as the franchise moves on under a new producer. I'm glad the new Doctor has his legs, arms, a nose of which he has had worse and remembered the important thing he had to when the regeneration started.
Farewell David Tennent, looking forward to what Matt Smith will bring after those few brief moments of post regeneration anarchy starting in the spring.
Here's to the Stephen Glenn position Doctor. Number 11 my kinda number.
UPDATE: Having watched Doctor Who Confidential RTD seems to think that the last 15 minutes of goodbyes to all the assistants etc was what was needed for the kids who grew up with David Tennent as their Doctor. Come on in Star Wars the goodbye was just the three ghosts appearing at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Thinking back to mine and Russel's childhoods we didn't get those goodbyes, plus we had to wait years to actually own the copies of the programmes we loved so much, after first video and then DVD was created. Today's young Doctor Who fans can easily find their favourite companions whenever they want to, they most likely have them on DVD somewhere near the TV.
UPDATE 2: For any non-UK Doctor Who fans or even for for those who are here is the intro to The End of Time Part II with The Doctor doing the honours over his ident.
Last I recall I was at my brother's house in Bangor on Christmas Day playing junior monopoly and trying to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Now I find I'm in Scotland, there appears to be an awful lot of snow outside.
WARNING Note to all blogreaders this is just a plot devise based around the two part Doctor Who Christmas Special if you haven't seen it I do apologise.
Rumours have it that tonight the Master Race is going to come under threat of extinction because of the Doctor. Don't make me laugh hahahaha. Remember how not that long ago it took the whole human race to save him. Well they, you, me everyone is now the Master, he'll have a hard time persuading me to turn against me.
With over 6 Billion of me taking him on this he won't be able to simple rely on turning his interesting human race hocus pocus to get his own over on us like he did the last time.
Well I've re-written Track Three, or to be more precise Jake Shears me, Baby Daddy me, Ana Matronic me, Del Marquis me and Randy Real me have rewritten and Stephen Glenn me is kindly publishing the lyrics on his blog.
It's not easy having yourself all the time Seeing ev'ry face as your face Keeping the Doctor in place Fuck and mess up precious time line Glad the Time Laws have been forgotten Curled up died now new begotten
I'm not a gangster tonight Don't want to be a bad guy I'm just a loner baby And now I've gotten my own way
I can't decide Whether you should live or die Oh, you'll probably go to heaven Please don't hang your head and cry No wonder why My heart feels dead inside It's cold and hard and petrified Lock the doors and close the blinds We're going for a ride
It's a bitch convincing people to like you Turn them all into you is quicker The smiles on my Master Race litter Pleasing everyone cause they are you Dancing jigs until we're crippled Slug ten drinks I won't get pickled
I've got to hand it to me We've played by all the same rules They take breaking to beat me And now we've made you lonely
We can't decide Whether you should live or die Oh, you'll probably go to heaven Please don't hang your head and cry No wonder why My hearts beat now worldwide They're cold and hard and petrified Lock the doors and close the blinds We're going for a ride
Oh we could throw you in the lake Or feed you poisoned birthday cake We wont deny we're gonna miss you when you're gone Oh we could bury you alive But you might crawl out with a knife And kill us when we're sleeping That's why
We can't decide Whether you should live or die Oh, you'll probably go to heaven Please don't hang your head and cry No wonder why My hearts beat now worldwide They're cold and hard and petrified Lock the doors and close the blinds We're going for a ride
Apparently the BBC think there is something worth watching on BBC One at 6:40 this evening. We the Master Race will probably find something better to be doing, after all we have the Doctor to deal with first before we can relax too much. Then again the BBC may be right maybe they will be showing you the end of the Doctor and the rise of the new friend of the earth the Master. Hahahahaha.
In a hour's time on BBC2 David Tennent will be starring in Hamlet with Patrick Stewart playing both his father's ghost and Claudius. Of course I'll be engrossed for all three hours 5 minutes. But Hamlet of course is rather a long play, even for its time when presented in full.
Just be glad that this conversation never actually took place.
I'm writing this well in advance. I do not intend to be writing any fresh blog entries today. However, if you have come across this blog I can understand. I have spent a couple of Christmases on my own because of not being able to get time of work to make travelling back and forth either worthwhile or practical.
So as you are here I'd better give you something worth looking at.
So over to Tim, Graeme and Bill. That is Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie or the Goodies with thier 1973 send up of the Great British Pantomime.
At 12:40 on E4 Matt Groening's tale of the forgotten one of Santa's reindeer is being shown.
Rudolf of course gets all the attention, even getting that song sung about him by Johnny Marks based on the book of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer that his brother in law Robert L. May produced in 1939. Plus most of the rest of us also know, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen since 1807 from the poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas by Major Henry Livingston, Jr.
With only a passing reference in Marks' song is the misspelt Olive the other reindeer. Here is a preview.
Meanwhile anyone with any spare glitter in the Livingston area like to pop it over to Caron as she has forgotten this important ingredient for reindeer food for tonight.
Having been up to the graveyard yesterday on my father's birthday and seeing the diggers digging some fresh graves, it is horrible to think that at this time of year when some of us are celebrating having family together others are losing some of theirs.
Just now I opened the BBC entertainment page and found that two stars of my childhood have passed away, neither are big names that you would recognise straight off unless you are a Tele geek. The first is Alaina Reed Amini one of the black actresses from Sesame Street, who finally succumbed to a two year battle with breast cancer aged 63. The other big star is Arnold Strang, who was the voice of the most tip top Top Cat who passed away at 91.
Sadly there is more sad news, not only have we lost Ludo but we have also lost Vic Mizzy who was slightly older at 93.
As Jennie says who he? Well without him there'd be less finger snapping in the world, because he gave us this...
Interesting aside is that one Addams adopted a Hobbit. Yeah when John Astin married Patty Duke he adopted her infant son who still bears his name and considers the star his real father.
Yes a whole 2 weeks and 2 days after the world first saw me it saw a young upstart called Monty Python. Here are some of my memorable Python Moments a little off the from the usual ones.
First a match of International Philosphy Germany v Greece.
This one is incredibly cheesey.
And in conclusion the World's funniest joke which first aired 40 years ago today.
Congratulations to Lord Freddie Windsor and his new bride actress Sophie Winkleman. Not only has the 32nd in line to the throne and his bride, half sister to It Takes Two presenter Claudia, tied the knot but they have also refused to let the celebrity press pay £600,000 for their wedding day pictures. Instead of taking £100,000 more than 11th in line Peter Philips last year, apparently with the Queen's disapproval, they gave one of the Royal magazines Majesty exclusivity for free.
A spokesman for the newlyweds said they had turned down the "life-changing" amount of money for the exclusive rights adding:
"They certainly thought hard about it but in the end they decided it wouldn’t be right. I’m sure the reputation of the royal family was part of their thinking."
Sophie in her career played Princess Eleanor in the ITV drama The Palacethe elder and somewhat scheming sister of the fictional young King Richard IV. Thecouple are now preparing for a life in Holywood as she embarks on a new US comedy series 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne. The groom, only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, is to continue his banking career in California with JP Morgan.
Although the most senior Royal to attend was Princess Eugenie, the King and Queen from The Palace Rupert Evans and Jane Asher did read a poem in the ceremony at Hampton Court.
The old Victorian sewers in Belfast are currently undergoing a £100m refurbishment scheme. But somebody at Northern Ireland Water said, "Hang on lads, I've got a great idea."
The idea was to approach the BBC with a number of proposals to use the new six mile series of tunnels in programming. The idea that struck was the possibility to recreate the classic scene from The Italian Job where Michael Caine and the team flee through the sewers of Turin (although the ones in Coventry were used for the shoot).
But who to do such a thing.
Some say they are on the most wanted list of the homophobic deep South.
Some say that no caravan in save within a 3 mile radius of them behind the wheel of a car.
Well in the coming weeks Jeremy Clarkson, Richard 'Hamster' Hammond and James 'Captain Slow' May who have driven to the North Pole, taken on planes, trains, bobsleighs and mountaineering base jumpers will be going underground. So let the boys all drive and the boys all shoot for the challenge.
The links from this blog entry come with spoiler alerts so if you are Sky+ing or recording all the episodes of Children of Earth the Torchwood five party look away now, there's nothing to see here.
As those who know me know I've always been a big sci-fi fan. Readers of this blog will see the occassional reference to the genre. But I don't Blog about Doctor Who or Torchwood because I easily get utdone by other Lib Dems and one of them is a fluffy elephant. So here are the best of the Lib Dem Torchwood blogs
Millennium Elephant (note subtitles are the pachyderm's own not those of Russell T Davis)
I've only missed a few episodes of the BBC drama Robin Hood when it has aired. One of those was last Saturdays, when I like over 12m other viewers was watching Andy Murray at Wimbledon.
Now I've learned before getting around to iPlayer-ing the episode I find out that not only have the BBC killed off Robin, but have axed the series as well. A BBC spokesman said:
'Viewers have enjoyed three fantastic series of Robin Hood but with the death of Robin in last week's finale, we feel that the show has reached its natural conclusion.'
Balderdash! Any executive at the BBC will recall the ITV series Robin of Sherwood and if they missed it they can catch it on ITV2 or something. When Michael Praed wanted out of the show they switched to one of the alternative legends of who Robin could have been and replaced Robin of Loxley with Robert of Huntingdon in the guise of Jason Connery.
Of course sharp witted readers amongst you are going to point out that there were also only three series over 26 episodes of Robin of Sherwood therefore 13 less than the BBC's own adaptation: but that's not really the point.
Jonas Armstrong was certainly Robin to Hoody Man to the hoody generation. Much as previous versions were to their forebears. I say though we can expect another TV adaptation of the hero of Sherwood Forest some time in the 2030s if current frequency of returning to a good yarn are anything to go by.
The other week both The Speaker wrote in disgust of how the Eastenders storyline where Syed Masood starts an affair with Christian Clarke in his own words that the BBC were using what 'frowned upon within [Islam]' and South Asian culture and 'exploiting that is totally wrong'.
While it may be frowned upon it is not, as one recent Gallop poll declared, that 0% of British Muslims believed that homosexuality was morally wrong. This month's Attitude magazine looks at the story from the side of those looked down upon not just from the Islamophobia that has sprung out of 9/11 and 7/7 et al but also from Homophobia within their own families and communities. Indeed contrary to what The Speaker thinks the writer of the article, Jamie Hakim, spoke to a number of gay Muslim groups and experts in the area each one of which was consulted by Eastenders in their research. Being a gay Muslim is just like being a gay in other religion where the leaders say it is wrong a hard thing for the individual to deal with. However, no matter how closeted they may feel they have to be doesn't mean they do not exist.
Asghar Bukhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee said of the Eastenders storyline:
'The Muslim community deserves a character that represents them to the wider public because Islamophobia is so great right now. There's a lack of understanding of Muslims already and I think that Eastenders really lost an opportunity to present a normal Muslim character to the British public.'
Of course ignores the fact that Syed is a recently returned prodigal his mother, father, sister and brother have been portraying a normal Muslim family on Albert Square before his recent return. Indeed the three gay Muslims all took a differing view to Mr Bukhari's comments. One said:
'What's to say he isn't normal? He could be a model example of someone who is proud to be British and Muslim and he just happens to be gay.'
Another:
'The story is very brave and positive. It's a real opportunity to show the Muslim community not as one homogenous block, because we're not.'
And the other, who is a South Asian Gay Men's Worker at the Naz Project in London:
'It's about time that the invisible became visible. It's a positive step for gay Muslims and for the gay community as a whole to be honest..... I'm glad that the BBC had the guts to go ahead with it'
Sadly it is still a matter of courage that's the thing. We had the first gay kiss on British TV in Albert Square back in the 80s of course one of the partakers in now Michael Cashman MEP. We recently had Hollyoaks cross the Catholic line of John Paul's l McQueens's love for and with Father Kieron Hobbs.
We've yet to see how the BBC and the Eastenders scriptwriters play the story arc out. The Masoods appear to be a normal family so I suspect there will the normal range of family reactions to the story. After it adds to the drama and reality of the storyline if not all of the family are fine with the discovery of Syed's sexuality. As indeed the man himself seems to be having issues himself coming to terms with it. He may well be in for pleasant surprises when they do find out. I hope so as that was far easier for me than I dreaded it would.
C.J. Craig: I think you should talk to some reporters. You are entitled to the status you've earned. Bruno Gianelli: The only thing I need status for... I'm doing right now. C.J.: I'm going to be watching this guy. Bruno: No, you don't have to watch him... C.J.: We owe you, Bruno. Bruno: No. I got paid. But thanks. I'm going to talk to Ashley now.
Ron Silver who played Bruno Gianelli that hard nosed political strategist in the West Wing died on Sunday. Like John Spencer his fellow West Wing actor there was a similarity in his life to that of his character. For John who played Leo McGarry played the part of a man with heart problems and ended up succumbing to a heart attack during the hiatus during the final season.
Whereas Bruno changed allegiance for money, for aiming to achieve the ultimate the 50 State stratagem Silver was principled in his political followings. So when after 9-11 he swing from the Democrats to the Republican cause he did it based on his own beliefs and convictions.
At the 2004 Republican convention he called himself a 9-11 Republican and spoke as a registered Independent:
"Under the unwavering leadership of President Bush, the cause of freedom and democracy is being advanced by the courageous men and women serving in our armed services. The president is doing exactly the right thing. That is why we need this president at this time."
While I disagree with him on his beliefs on that matter I do applaud him for being prepared to go against the Hollywood norm at that time, based on his own conviction.
However, to die at the age of 62 from esophageal cancer means he will never get to play many of those older statesmen role and will always be remembered as by me as the go getter, take no nonsense Bruno.
Sam Seaborn: Why are you so bent on countering these idiot leaflets?
Bruno Gianelli: Because I'm tired of working for candidates who make me think that I should be embarrassed to believe what I believe, Sam! I'm tired of getting them elected! We all need some therapy, because somebody came along and said, "'Liberal' means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense, and we're gonna tax you back to the Stone Age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to!" And instead of saying, "Well, excuse me, you right-wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, Leave It To Beaver trip back to the Fifties...!", we cowered in the corner, and said, "Please. Don't. Hurt. Me." No more. I really don't care who's right, who's wrong. We're both right. We're both wrong. Let's have two parties, huh? What do you say?
Had to smile this morning at news of a flash mob of little plasticine yesterday outside the Tate Modern in London. Hundreds of models of the late Tony Hart's morphened sidekick were a very fitting tribut to the man who taught children to draw for over 50 years.
Wow. Fans of the West Wing will know that the ficticious website lemonlyman.com was set up to follow the activities of ficticious Deputy Chief of staff Josh Lyman. The political geeks will also know that Josh was based on Rahm Emanuel from his days in the Clinton West Wing.
"I think that if you played Rahm Emanuel like Rahm Emanuel actually is, I don't think people would believe it. I think people would think, "Wow, I can't believe somebody is actually like that."
You can tell I'm bored waiting to actually work can't you? Best thing I have Roll Call Officer Refresher Training in an hour and then a conference call at 2 heaven knows when the reports will get done.
