59 - Today

Given what is about to happen in less than thirty minutes, I think there is only one thing to say. Those of you who know will get the context...

So long, and thanks for all the fish...

58 - Change

There's a bit in a Billy Bragg song called Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, where Billy sings;

"If no one out there understands, start your own revolution and cut out the middle man."

And I can't help but think he's entirely correct. If there is something out there you think is wrong, do something about it. It may be that there is already a movement to make this change, but if there is not... well, every movement started with an individual. 

It may come to naught. But then again it may end up changing the world. You never can tell...

(The song also contains the line "The revolution is just a t-shirt away", which you can actually get on a t-shirt. I have one. It's great.)

57 - Everything

I may have said this before, but context is everything; it's not enough to just look at the words spoken, or written, the surrounding context always has to be borne in mind. Is something said out of malice, or of ignorance? These things are important. 

And if someone does say something a little off, is that reason enough to demonise them? If they recognise their error and apologise, should that not be the end of the matter? Especially if this is something they learn from, so that they are not going to repeat it?

It seems to me in this day and age these things are not taken in to consideration. A badly thought out tweet can be enough to turn someone from being an ally to an enemy. This is surely wrong. No one person is perfect. We all have the capacity to make a mistake, and to learn from it. 

I dunno...

56 - Songs

I think of all the things that summarise the Remain vs Leave debate in regards to the most horrible of words, Brexit, is the battle that is currently being fought. 

This Friday, January 31st, is Brexit day, and since the changes to the singles charts were made a few years back, it's also the day the new singles chart is announced. Who will be number one?

(As a quick divergence; I really cannot get used to this malarkey where the charts are announced on a Friday, when it should be between 4-7pm on a Sunday, nor the release of new music on a Friday. But that's a post for another time.)

This week there is a battle. Two rival campaigns are bying for the number one spot. 

In the red corner are those who wish to remain in the EU; they are championing a particular version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, from his 9th Symphony, which also happens to be the EU anthem. It's a stirring piece of music that brings out emotion in the listener, it's a piece of music that has stood the test of time in the (almost) 200 years since it was composed. It's just glorious. 

In the brown corner is a song written and "sung" by a chap called Dominc Frisby entitled "17 Million F**k-Offs", the title of which refers to the (approximate) number of votes cast for leaving the EU in the referendum. And, frankly, it's a dirge. Badly written, badly sung, and frankly an insult to pretty much anyone that's not a rabid Nigel Farage loving Brextremist. 

I know you'll probably say that I would say that as I'm a "Remoaner" and all that sort of piffle, but the fact is that it is just a dirge. Were it a decent song, with stirring lyrics (rather than a succession of various "f**k offs" to various people) I would have acknowledged its craftsmanship, but still have disagreed with the sentiment of the song. That's not impossible. 

It's very rare you can make a statement that "Song A" is better than "Song B" on a truly objective basis, but I think this is a very rare occasion when this is possible. 

When I first heard of this battle, I headed to iTunes to download Ode to Joy and was quite pleased to see that in their chart it's currently number one, with the other "song" at number 2. Hopefully that will be the case when the full chart, compiled from its various sources, is announced one Friday. 

As Number 2 is an entirely appropriate place for that pile of sh.........

55 - Trust

One of the key things in politics should be trust; that you can trust that those who make our laws are doing so in any entirely honourable manner. And, indeed, this is true of many MPs that sit in the House of Commons. 

Sadly, I think there are several key politicians who you just can't trust and that includes the Prime Minister. 

Now, I am sure the cynics among you will suggest that I would say that being a lefty Labour supporter. and I see where you're coming from. But that's not the case.

I look back at Maggie Thatcher in the 1980s, and as much as I couldn't stand her, you knew you could trust that when she said she would do something that she would do it. 

As Frank Skinner said (and I may be paraphrasing; "You always knew where you were with Maggie Thatcher; unfortunately you didn't have a paddle."

54 - Time

I have been talking of nostalgia a little bit lately, and I wonder if something count as nostalgia if it is something that remains and ongoing concern? 

I ask this as I look back a decade further than the waxings about 1989 back to 1979. September 1st 1979 to be precise. On that day I saw my very first Doctor Who... part 1 of Destiny of the Daleks. I think the 5 year old me would have found in impossible to think that the 46 year old me typing this would have this very evening seen the latest episode (I've no idea how many I've seen; I'm not even going to attempt to count).. yet still the show has a part in my life.

There's another thong, though, that's quite odd; despite the fact that every extant episode of the original run is there and available to watch, on either DVD or Blu-Ray, or even on this new fangled BritBox thing there are decent number of the original 1963-89 run I've never seen. And yet I feel no major compulsion to fill those gaps as any kind of matter of urgency. 

I think one day I will have see them all, but there's a part of me that likes that there are still episodes to see. 

53 - Slow

Having started to watch Home and Away from the start one thing that strikes me is how slow paced these early episodes were, and how little happens. Which I now realise is two things, so in case this turns in to the Spanish Inquisition, I'll stop there. 

Well, I guess it's not really that nothing actually happens, but rather how small the storylines are, and how... ordinary it all is. But everything that happens is seeming to grow organically from the characters, rather than just trying for sensation. 

Some characters work better than others; Lance and Martin are annoying me much more than they ever did when it was first on, and I'm constantly wishing for a swift exit for the pair, despite knowing that they're in it for much longer. And Floss and Neville seem pretty much superfluous. And as I recall they are the first to leave. Well, either them or Lynn. I forget. 

Still, ol' Alf Stewart is still ruling the roost; he's the best thing in the show from the off. He's yet to say the word "flamin'" yet, though. Celia's barely been in it yet as well; it's always such a treat to see the contrast in her character, compared with the other role Fiona Spence is also most known for, Vera "Vinegar Tits" Bennett in Prisoner Cell Block H. 

The same could actually be said of Ray Meagher, as his Alf (general decent good guy) is in complete contrast to his three - yes, three - PCBH roles, all of which were baddies... 

But the core of the show, Tom, Pippa, and the six kids work so very well. Having them as foster parents means there's a decent reason for six such different kids to be under the same roof as each other. It also gives a convenient plot device so that kids can leave, and new kids can arrive and live with them, without a contrivance of a lost relative or an endless parade of nieces or nephews. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop, watching it at a much faster rate than I would have back in the day, and how things change. For example, I can't recall if we had the change in actress playing Pippa before or after Tom died; my gut feeling is Pippa changes, then Tom dies. And then after that she meets Michael. I guess I'll see. 

It'll be fun...

52 - Pointless

Is this the most pointless blog post ever written?

Probably...!

51 - Tech

Another thing I think about from time to time is the march of technology; I look back at what I had as a teenager - say in 1989 - and how much things have developed. At that time the Nintendo Gameboy was being released over in Japan, and the UK computer magazines like C&VG were talking about it (it would be 1990 before they were out here).

Compare the Gameboy with its closest real equivalents today - smartphones - and they are poles apart. The Gameboy, running off 4 AA batteries, had a 4-tone black/greyscale LCD screen, and played games off a cartridge. No internet connection then to download games.

But it was great. 

To be able to play decent games out and about wherever you wanted was just so liberating, and if the batteries ran out you just needed to chuck some more AAs in an continue And they lasted a fair while. 

It was the start of the path that would lead us to the smartphones of today. Then they would have seemed like futuristic things more suited to science fiction that from the real world just a few years later. I mean, at the time Star Trek; The Next Generation has started and one of their hi-tech devices was a "Padd", which was essentially an iPad ahead of its time. 

This then has to lead to the question... if we've gone from a Gameboy to an iPhone over this time; what do the next thirty or so years hold? What will the tech look like in 2050.

I'd attempt to make a prediction, but I suspect the people of 2050, should they look back and read this blog (ha!) would just laugh... 

50 - Apocalypse

Sooner or later the world will end, perhaps with a bang, perhaps with a whimper. Perhaps it will outlive humanity, perhaps by then humanity will have moved to other worlds. and be screwing with their environments as we have with ours... who knows.

Though at the moment. the planet's giving us a bit of a fightback; this new disease originating in the Wuhan area of China, spreading its way around the world. Whilst there are just a few confirmed cases outside of China, how many other people have the virus incubating within them, spreading it around. 

The thing is. to go fully global it doesn't need too many people infected. The right (or wrong!) people spreading it, flying from one country to another... it all spreads quick. Like at the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes where the pilot is infected, spreading it at the airport to people who fly out to many different locations... 

Realistically, it's probable that this virus will have a vaccine created for it before too long, and it'll end up being a bit of a footnote. 

But what if it's not?

It'll make the forthcoming Brexit - in 9 days - seem completely insignificant! 

49 - Flamin'

Of course, having signed up to Amazon Prime, whilst waiting for Picard to start I thought I'd have a gander at seeing exactly what exciting new stuff is on there. what new 21st century works of art there may be, but oh, what's that?

The first 200 episodes of Home and Away.

I just couldn't resist starting it. There's little I remember of the early days - just the occasional bit here and there. Alf shouting "Flamin' kids!" is the most abiding memory. 

So, rather than the exciting new stuff I think these 200 episodes will be the first thing I end up seeing - with a weekly interruption for Jean-Luc Picard.

I wonder how far in to it 200 episodes will be? How many of the original 6 kids will still be in it? How many times will Alf have used the words "flamin'" or "malarkey"? And how many times in the same sentence? 

I guess this also ties in with the 1989 post the other day about nostalgia as H&A debuted in the UK in early 1989, so I'd have seen all these episodes in that year. They say don't mistake coincidence for fate, but... sometimes it's hard no to. Sometimes these things from the past take you away to a special place and remind you of things long since gone. It feels comfortable, and safe. It's hindsight in action as I'm quite sure 1989 didn't feel safe...

But it does make me smile to watch it...

Also, I also wonder from watching the 90 minute pilot episode whether there were some details they hadn't decided up; here Fisher is the interfering next door neighbour and absolutely no mention is made of him being the headmaster of the local school. You'd think there would have been. Was this a change they made once the show got the go ahead to start? 

48 - Prime

I guess this is a bit of a follow up to post #45 in that today I have taken the plunge and signed up to Amazon Prime. 

Shortly before this, I gave NOWTV the chop, and in the box where it asked for the reason I said something like "I'm defecting to Amazon Prime; they have Star Trek Picard, and you don't. Sorry." And then had to click through what seemed like about a million "are you sure?" prompts before they finally accepted it. 

Still, at least I didn't have to speak to a real human. 

And I am more than a little excited for ST: Picard, more so than Discovery. I mean, this is more Jean-Luc. And whilst we'll be getting a few fan-pleasing cameos, it's going to be his series. I also hope that we've not been told all of the returning characters, as there's one who I want to see more than any other; Q.

It always rankles with me a little that in the era of TNG movies, they never made a movie with Q in it. I reckon that, if done correctly, it would have been the best Star Trek film of all. 

John de Lancie was always absolutely compelling to watch whenever he appeared on screen; even in the lesser episodes he appeared in. He elevated every scene he was in. whether it was a comedic moment, or a serious one. Often he would flip between the two in the space of a single scene. 

So, he has to be in ST: Picard somewhere. Heck, if he's not in this series, it's already been given the okay for a second before it's even been shown. We want him. We need him. 

Make it so...

47 - Who

I suppose at some point I'll have to write about Doctor Who, but today probably isn't that day. I think any posts about it will have to be ones that are written, and edited, and precisely worded, rather than the stream of consciousness ramblings I've been doing of late. 

I mean, I'd want to talk about this current series (much better than the last one), or missing episodes, or about how something that seemed okay when it was made isn't okay now, and how you can still enjoy it, or about the chronology of the UNIT stories, about the years in which Eccles/DT/Smith episodes take place in, about how perfect an episode Rose was, or how great The Underwater Menace is, or how the world will fall apart when Tom dies, or how... 

...oh, so many things...

But I need to do them justice. Which I'm not going to do right now. Time is getting on. And I'm tired. 

46 - 1989

As I sit typing this an edition of Top of the Pops from 1989 is on the telly - Kylie and Jason are number one, and are singing right now - and it does get me all nostalgic, and melancholy. I think back, and chances are I saw this edition when it was first screened as it was slap bang in the middle of when I watched the show. So many of the songs evoke memories of that time, not just in terms of the songs themselves but events, conversations, and other things.

It's stirring up all sorts of emotions in me, which are making it difficult to know exactly where I'm going to go with this. I am just spitballing here. It's not just in terms of the things that have changed since then, but how I was. It's now 2020. The me of 1989 couldn't have pictured where he'd be now (heck, the bugger wouldn't even have pictured where he'd be in 2000, or even just a few years down the line). 

I was 15 at the time these shows were being shown. Now we're on a second edition and Then Jericho are playing. Bif Area. I had the album on tape and must have played it a million times. I can only think of one other song on it - What Does it Take? - and I'm not even sure that's correct. 

15. 16 in September of that year. Very much a time of change, heading in to GCSE exam year, which could shape my whole future. But back then, it was a time when Maggie effing Thatcher was still Prime Minister, and in a small town in the country, it did seem the world was narrow and opportunities were very limited (despite what the Pet Shop Boys had suggested a few years before). 

The world seemed smaller. It was hard to see beyond the part of the world I lived in. No internet to find things out; just what the media chose to show us. London seemed a million miles away, let alone anywhere further afield. There was a sense of hopelessness in the air, that things couldn't get better (D:Ream were a few years off at this point). But they had to in the end (if it ever can be said to be the end). 

1989 is one of the years I look back on as being important (though not as important as 1998) to me, but I can never really put my finger on why. But the music does stand out. This was the year of Monkey Gone to Heaven by The Pixies, which I first saw on The Chart Show. The ITV version of Top of the Pops, where it was all promo videos. But every week they also played a specialist chart rotating between the Dance, Rock, and Indie charts. 

That brought me The Pixies, and Eardrum Buzz by Wire, and of course, The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. I must have seen that edition of TOTP that everyone cites that had them both on; must have. I definitely remember seeing Kirsty with Shaun doing Hallelujah. I mean, I even had the 7" (probably still do) of that. 

I'm cherry-picking, of course, as for all this great music there was still a lot of rubbish. And songs I don't remember (as is being proved by this very edition of TOTP). We selectively remember things, whether these are particularly good or bad; the indifferent just float away and are never called to mind. Perhaps that's good? 

Or perhaps I'm just over thinking things. And 1989 was just another year that really wasn't anything special at all. Just something I've built up in my mind for no good reason. I once wanted to write a novel set in 1989. It would have been called - imaginatively enough - 1989. But thought never achieved anything. Got to put pen to paper. Got to actually write stuff. But it does seem that when I try to write fiction, it just seems rubbish, or I can't find the words to say anything. Which is kind of ironic as over the last half hour I've been bashing out this tosh, which I'm just about to publish on my blog. 

And that doesn't faze me. I know this whole post really doesn't hang together in any kind of structure. It could probably do with a lot of editing. But I won't do that unless I happen to spot a blatant typo (like that one in the second paragraph; good job I spotted it). And yet I'll publish it. I feel free and able to do this, yet I don't give myself the freedom to write rubbish fiction knowing that I'll rewrite it, edit it and make it good. Even though the incredibly talented writer Paul Cornell once gave a piece of writing advice that went (and I may be paraphrasing here);  

"Have an idea. Write it. It will be bad. Then you rewrite it until it's good."

I should pay heed to that. Give myself permission to be bad, and then to see what tangents I go off on. I mean, I started this post intending to just talk about music, and look where it's got me. Something got a hold of me... and... well, it's just like Marc Almond and Gene Pitney, who are singing that song on TOTP as I type. 

Damn, I loved that song when I was 15 in 1989...

That's probably enough. 

In anycase... the tea's getting cold. I've got work to do. 

45 - Engage

One of the problems with US TV shows in the UK is when a franchise has multiple series... all too often, these will be sold off to different broadcasters outside of the US. 

For example, Netflix has almost every Star Trek series; the new one, Picard, is on Amazon Prime. 

Also; The Walking Dead is on one channel, Fear the Walking Dead on another, and the third series (oh, I can't remember what it's called...) is on a third. 

Recently there was also a scenario where five of the DC TV shows had a crossover event; one of them isn't even shown in the UK so viewers here had no legal way to see one of the episodes. Which I imagine was quite confusing. 

The thing is, though, there's no way to stop this as the US TV companies will rightly sell the rights to show their shows to the highest bidder; if a new series in a franchise is created it's the same situation. If Netflix doesn't want to spend as much money as Amazon on Picard... well, that's where it goes. 

There's no way to get around that. 

Hmm...

44 - Coincidence

So, fairly soon after writing about Douglas Adams, I find out they're making a new TV version of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Part of me is very nervous about this as it will depend on how things are handled. I don't necessarily expect it to be a clone of anything that's come before, but it does need to feel right.

When they made the movie it was so very frustrating as all the elements of the thing were right, the look, the cast, the effects. But things didn't gel. 

Alarm bells for me started to ring with the scene where Arthur is in front of the bulldozer; his interaction with Mr Prosser was cut to pieces, with surreality of the planning department's location removed. Just compare how the original TV does this scene so much better than the movie (including the subtle moment where the chap sat in the bulldozers cab looks hastily away when Arthur mentioned the person who charged him a fiver to clean his windows for a fiver). It's Douglas taking things to an absurd level, and when you think it can't get any more absurd... it does. But somehow makes sense. To but it down just showed a lack of understanding as to what made Douglas' writing so precise. 

I have a feeling how this scene is handled in this new version will very much be an indicator of whether the show's going to work or not. 

And make sure the casting is right. I've no idea who I'd put in most of the roles. but I think I'd have Adrian Lester as Slartibartfast. Maybe David Tennant as Zaphod? Perhaps with Danai Gurira as Trillian? And Arthur Darvill as Arthur? He's got that confused look you need for Arthur. No idea about Ford, though. He's probably the trickiest to cast. And Marvin... oh, who would be Marvin? 

Hmm...

43 - Omens

So I watched the first episode of TV's Good Omens today - it was rather good, though that opening narration was clearly a Douglas Adams homage, wasn't it? It could have come straight out of the guide. Damn good, though. 

I've never read the book. Heck. I've never read any Pratchett, and I've really no idea why. 

Then I saw the documentary afterwards and found it very moving. I almost turned it off very close to the start, as the footage of Pratchett shown then at a point when he was probably close to death. That was the only such footage shown, though. I did come close to shedding a tear or two when Neil Gaiman recounted the story of the last time he saw Terry. Such talk is always tough. 

And it got me to thinking... why have I never read a single Terry Pratchett book, and where do I start? Should I start with the first Discworld book and work through in order? But if the early ones aren't brilliant - as Gaiman himself seemed to suggest - will I get put off? Should I start with Night Watch, which Gaiman said was his best? Or is there a better place to start? 

I dunno...

42 - Douglas

I mean it may be cliche, but there was really only one choice for the subject of the 42nd post on this blog... Douglas Adams.

He was definitely a man ahead of his time; if you look at some of the things he foresaw you'd recognise them in today's technology. His most famous creation, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was essentially an iPad (or iPhone) ahead of its time in terms of its physical nature, with the premise being more or less a version of Wikipedia. 

The sad thing is, the bugger went and died not long before these things became reality You can imagine him loving IPhones and IPads and embracing their possibilities. Let's not forget, Douglas loved Apple's products. It's said he was one of the first two people to get an Apple Mac when they were launched (the other being Stephen Fry). 

I'd also like to have thought that he might have written another Hitch Hiker's book; I'd imagine he'd have staretd it in the early 2000s, and he'd just about be finishing it now. Similarly, I can  imagine Russell T Davies comissioning him to do a Doctor Who script, which might just about have seen the screen by the time Steven Moffat took over, just about making it in to Matt Smith's final season. I'd imagine we'd still be waiting for his follow up...

But I think of all his work, the most important is the book he co-wrote with the zoologist Mark Carwardine, where they visit various locations around the world where there are specific species very close to extinction (sadly since then at least two of them have gone extinct). One of the moments I recall is when he's in Australia and a person Douglas and Mark are visiting says to make sure they don't get bitten by a particular snake, as its venom is fatal. Douglas asks what happens if they do get bit, and the chap deadpans back "You die. That's what fatal means." 

I'd like to think the book made a difference. But sadly, I don't think it did. The world's climate continues to deteriorate, and make further extinctions of species not just a possibility, but a continuing reality. 

41 - Abdicating

Is it terribly bad of me to be thinking that the current hoo-ha with Harry and Meghan is going to make for a cracking sixth season episode of The Crown? Imagine how electrifying the meeting held today will be when portrayed on screen?

I wonder who will play them...?

40 - Power

The aim of a political party is to win power, to win enough seats in a General Election to have an overall majority and be able to form a government. This is the only way it gets to enact its policies and to carry out actions that it believes will make the country a better place. 

If you are in opposition, without the seats to be able to block votes, you're not able to do a thing. 

To do win an election, a political party has to be able to read the mood of the nation and ensure that its policies are relevant, and likely to command support. It also needs to recognise that in this day and age many people only have an overview of what a political party believes; the headlines, the soundbites. So it is important to ensure that a party's message can be delivered swiftly, concisely, and clearly. 

In the last election, the Tories got this aspect spot on. The main slogan they had through the election was the very simple "Get Brexit done". That's what people heard, and that's what many people voted for. It was clear, and concise. 

Other parties were also clear. You knew that if you were voting for the Lib Dems you were voting to revoke article 50 and remain in the EU. In the event that Swinson were to have got a majority that's what would have happened. 

Labour were far less clear; there seemed to be all sorts of flip flopping, and eventually the message was that in the event of a Labour majority Corbyn would negotiate a better deal with the EU for Brexit, and then put it to a referendum, at which time he'd remain neutral and act as a facilitator for the debate. 

Whilst I think this was actually a sensible position, the problem was that it was not in place right at the start of the campaign, and it almost appeared that it was being improvised as time passed, which caused confusion among the public. 

Furthermore, the Labour manifesto contained too many promises for "free" things, which many did not think could be delivered over the course of a parliament. (This is even ignoring the stat I heard during the election that it's usual for only 1/4 to a 1/3 of any manifesto actually becomes law). It would have been much better to have prioritised which aspects of the manifesto were most important, and focus on those over the course of the next parliament Then once delivered, and shown to work, move on to the next set. 

One thing I very much liked that used to happen in the past is the pledge card; a card - debit card sized - highlighting the six main issues in bullet points. Clear. Concise. That way everyone knows exactly what the priorities are. 

I've also seen debates about ensuring the Labour party is ideologically pure, and not compromising; but I ask this question... Is it better to be ideologically pure in opposition, or to make small compromises and be elected to power?

I know what my answer would be...

39 - Opinions

I think one of the most important principles is that of freedom of speech, especially when it comes to discussing opinions on the issues of the day. All too often these days you see people being shouted down because their opinion doesn't align with what is deemed to be "correct". There is no engagement, no attempt to point out fallacies in arguments, or to try to engage to try to understand the opposite point of view. They are shut down with insults. 

To my mind, if you cannot debate a point and you resort to insults and threats to shut your opponent down you've lost the argument. 

I'll probably expand a lot more on freedom of speech in further posts, but I wanted to get this particular point down as it's an important one. 

If you disagree with things I say here. feel free to post a comment challenging me and pointing out where I've gone wrong. You never know, you might change my mind about something...

38 - Bowie

It doesn't seem like it could possibly be so long ago, but today it is four days since David Bowie died. He seemed to be one of those people that would outlast us all, or at least more realistically that he'd live a a ripe old age well in to his 90s, or even reaching 100 and getting a card from Brian... but no. All of a sudden, just a couple of days after Blackstar was released, the news came that he'd died.

Aside from his music, the one thing that always comes to mind when thinking of Bowie was his brief appearance in the film Twin Peaks; Fire Walk With Me. It's an electrifying performance, and also incredibly enigmatic. The sequence is cut in a manner to increase the confusion, and disorientate the viewer. But Bowie is just wonderful. 

So to hear a while later that he was never happy with the performance was quite a surprise. Some people apparently criticised his accent, but the accent was precisely the accent David Lynch wanted for the performance; if he had thought it was wrong, he'd have changed it. 

When asked to return for the third series of the TV show, Bowie declined, citing that as the main reason; but the thing is, at that time he'd have known he was dying, and working on ensuring Blackstar was completed... yet I still can't help but think how things would have worked out had he appeared. As the show aired, as each week passed, and Agent Jeffries kept on being mentioned, I hoped that we'd get at least a surprise cameo from Bowie. But it wasn't to be, and all we got was footage from the film - and footage without Bowie's dialogue, as he asked that it not be used because of the accent. 

Four years ago, the world was robbed of a great talent. But we should be thankful for what a great body of work we have. 

Maybe, now, Bowie is himself the starman waiting in the sky? 

37 - Positivity

Sometimes it's hard to be positive at a time when it seems the whole world is potentially falling apart, whether it's Trump's actions putting the world in danger of potentially heading in to a third world war, or climate change cooking the world, or any other method of apocalyptic way how the world could end. 

But despite this it is important to be as positive as you possibly can. 

And where possible do what you can to try to avert any potential disaster. It may be very difficult to do this, but the actions of an individual can make a difference, and that individual may be you. 

It may not be, but you never know... 

The world is what we make of it. And every single one of us has that responsibility to do the best we possibly can, not only for ourselves, but for everyone else on the planet as well. 

36 - 8

I realised earlier that already this year I have made more posts in the first week of this year than in the whole of 2018 and 2019 put together. I am making a concerted effort to write at least something every day.

Sometimes, though, it can be difficult. I'll have got to close to the end of the day without having thought of anything decent to write so I'll have to just bang out some random nonsense that's of no consequence off the top of my head and say it's a post. 

Sometimes it may, by some miracle, be a monumentally witty piece. Other times it'll end up being a load of old waffle...

...like this very post is. 

35 - Numpties

There is an increasing amount of vegetarian or vegan options in various outlets at the moment, whether it's KFC with its Quorn burger, or Greggs with the sausage rolls and steak bakes; and don't you just think that every time Piers Morgan slates their vegan options, they must rub their hands with glee at all the free publicity he hands them. Sales must shoot up. Almost makes you think he's got shares in them, or something! 

[NB, for the lawyers; Piers Morgan does not have shares in Greggs.That was a joke.]

And now Burger King are getting in on the act with their Rebel Whopper Burger. A soy based burger, with all the lovely salady accoutrements, in a toasted sesame seed bun. A treat that on the face of it sounds like a corker of a vegetarian option... 

...yet despite not containing a single meat based ingredient, the Rebel Whopper Burger is not suitable for vegetarians... why?

Because the numpties are cooking it using the same equipment as their meaty burgers so all the meat juice and fat and so on from these will seep in to the veggie burger. 

I mean, why? This is stupidity of a monumental nature. Cook the blimmin things apart from each other. Make adjustments to your cooking equipment to ensure that one cannot cross-contaminate the other. It's not rocket science. 

But, no. They just don't bother to do that, and thus ensure that any vegetarian that might have wanted to try one won't bother now as the meaty contamiments introduced in the cooking process make it totally unsuitable. 

There's no logic there at all. Might as well have not bothered with it. It's totally pointless. 

'Cos the thing is I may have been tempted away from McDonalds for this, as I'm getting a little bored of their very limited vegetarian options (all variations on coated bean chunks), but now... well, it ain't gonna happen. 

Hey... maybe McDonald's will eventually give us a vegetarian Big Mac...

34 - Nought

But all this will be for naught if the things going on in the world lead to a third world war with multiple nuke strikes...

Might make the Brexit hoo-ha seem like small potatoes in comparison. After all, what will it matter if the world is an irradiated post-apocalyptic nightmare.

Still...

33 - Mask

I made the mistake of flicking through the TV channels and stopping at the new singing show, The Masked Singer. 

The conceit of this is that famous people get dressed up in weird costumes and sing in front of a celeb panel and the studio audience. And the panel have to try to guess who is beneath the mask...

...it sounds dreadful. And it is. But it's compellingly dreadful. As I type this, Alan Johnson, former MP, is singing Walk Like an Egyptian. Badly. Half dressed as a Pharaoh. Yesterday, Patsy Palmer, Bianca from TV's EastEnders, was a butterfly. I should not be watching it. 

But somehow it's entirely compelling. 

And I now know I'll end up trying to see every episode, and try to work out who is in each costume. I've no idea who most of them are. 

Except the unicorn.

The unicorn is Captain Jack Harkness, from TV's Doctor Who; John Barrowman. 

Of that, I am sure. 

32 - Owls

I suppose one post-script to yesterday's post is that over the years I had all sorts of notions as to how to bring back Twin Peaks. 

When it came back, it was completely different to how I imagined. And that was a good thing. The utter masterpiece that David Lynch and Mark Frost served up was beyond my wildest dreams. 

Just wonderful.

And one day - actually, over the course of several days - I expect I'll go in to exactly why. It'll take me a while...

31 - Reviving

All sorts of things find themselves floating around in my mind; I often think, for example, of how I'd bring back long dead TV shows if I were in charge of them (which I never am, 'cos I don't work in television). So, for a bit of pure self indulgence, here's how I'd bring back a handful of TV shows;

Press Gang

There're really two ways to do this that are completely unrelated to each other. 

The first is to do a kind of soft reboot of the show, on CBBC perhaps, with a set of kids in a modern day school working on a paper - possibly initially as a school project with the paper set to run just a few issues. You'd have the clash between the new (mobile phones, apps, social media) with the old (print media) at the core of things. But here's the kicker... the Matt Kerr figure in the new run would be Lynda Day. And the clash between the old and new tech would be mirrored in the old (Lynda) and the new (whoever the editor of the school paper is). As per the original run it could tackle the issues facing kids today. And where the stories fit you could have other original cast members in it. I mean, an investigation in to dodgy business practices of a local company... who else but CME? 

The other is to go full on 9PM BBC1 flagship drama, and focus on one of the original characters as they are as they approach 50 (oh, how time flies). I mentioned Lynda before, but she's who I'd focus on here as you can imagine Lynda rising to the heights of editing a daily national newspaper; and knowing how Lynda would pursue a story you can imagine the kind of things that she might get up to... but would she sanction phone hacking, etc? And again, bring in the other characters as they are needed. 

Ahh...but could Dexter Fletcher be persuaded to step back in front of the camera?

Quantum Leap

Continuation or reboot is the key question here, and the only acceptable answer is "continuation". Get Scott Bakula back as Sam, and just carry on as before with the leaps. The more contentious questions is; what do we do about the observer?

'Cos whatever happens the one thing that's certain is that Dean Stockwell can't return as Al. Stockwell is now very old indeed, not in good health, and has retired from acting. Whether he could come back for a very brief cameo in a first episode of a revival would even very much be in doubt. 

So, what to do?

My gut feeling is that whoever it is the dynamic between Sam and the new observer has to be different to Sam and Al. I'd probably go with one of two options. First would be one of Al's daughters (remember that caption in Mirror Image...), second would be Sam's daughter. I know... there's never a mention of Sam having had a daughter. But think... what if Sam and Donna got jiggy in The Leap Back... there you go. 

Just keep anything relating to real people to a minimum, used sparingly it's effective, all the time it gets boring. And importantly, remember what the end of the Lee Harvey Oswald episode implies...

The Bill

I'd love to see The Bill come back. It should never have been axed in the first place. You could just drop back in on Sun Hill at any time and carry on with things. You'd want a couple of familiar characters there, and load of new people, and just get on with the issues that are facing the Police today, and the crimes happening. Like the original run it could range from low level ASB up to murder, it could look at county line drugs problems, child sexual exploitation, pretty much any offences, really. 

You'd have some stories that are concluded in one episode, and others arching over weeks, months, and even years, with some villains continually cropping up. You'd also have plenty of occasions where the wrong 'uns get away with it (like in real life). Sun Hill always had a clear up rate that any real police force would kill for. It was also the most dangerous police station in the country, though...!

So, familiar characters... I'd like the Superintendent to either be Yvonne Hemmingway or Gina Gold. Get Alex Walkinshaw out of Holby and back as Smithy, now a Chief Inspector. That's probably all you'd need. 

Well, maybe Burnside for just one episode, perhaps as a victim of crime?

There's a whole host of other shows I could waffle on about, but i might save them for another time...  

30 - Reviewing

I'm probably not the first to point this out, but I'm going to have a little mini-rant about it, but; Amazon's review system is, for the most part, rubbish.

I'm not talking here about the allegations of fake reviews (though if this is true, this is a problem), but about various practices that make reviews either completely pointless, or a chore to go through... I'm going to use Star Wars stuff as the examples here. There are two main problems. 

First problem is the inconsistency of allowing product to be reviewed before it's even been released. Take a look at the Blu-Ray release of Rise of Skywalker. There are currently 44 reviews. Not a single person actually owns a copy of the release. They're all reviewing the movie they saw at the cinema. Which is useless. It doesn't tell you about the quality of the Blu Ray, or how good the extras may be, or anything else. That's what I want to know about from the reviews. 

Second problem is combining reviews of different editions; say, for example I want to read a review of the Collectors Edition of The Force Awakens. Apparently there are currently 12,111 reviews of it... but no; a majority of these (I stopped after page 2) are reviewing other editions of the film, so there's a heck of a lot to wade through to read actual reviews of the collectors edition. 

A further example are the 2,020 (what a coincidence!) reviews of 3D version of Episode 4... Strewth, I thought, I didn't even know that had been released in 3D. Imagine watching the Tantive IV being pursued by the Star Destroyer in 3D... well, imagine is what you'll have to do as the 3D version was never released, and the reviews are for other editions of the movie. 

Now, I chose a high profile set of films to illustrate this problem, and I could have chosen anything else; it exists across all films and TV shows with multiple editions. And books. And it makes a mockery of the review system. 

Perhaps a solution would be to restrict all reviews to people who have purchased (and received) an item from Amazon, which would then link back to the specific edition purchased. That would stop the problems in one. It would mean fewer reviews, but they would be more meaningful and useful. 

29 - N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen

I have been somewhat remiss in writing new content for this blog, but I hope this will change and it will become rather more active. I realise I may have said something similar before, and it's not happened. But this time it'll be different. Promise. 

I may have said that before, also...

...anyhow, on with the show;

I did think of doing something radical in this first post of 2020, but what the heck, let's do a boring, traditional, look back at the previous year. 

So, 2019, what a shitstorm of a year that was. The biggest thing politically remained that most divisive of subjects; Brexit. After having been postponed twice, from the end of March to the end of October (Halloween... how very appropriate) to the end of January it looked like there might be a chance to get it stopped with the December general election.

Hmm...

That was a bit of a balls up, wasn't it? 

Before going on I guess I should return to a couple of things I've said before;

Firstly I've often quoted something Nigel Farage said when he thought he was going to lose the referendum; "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way." A stopped clock is right twice a day, and this was a rare occasion where Farage was right. That he backtracked on this comment when this result meant he won was neither here nor there. 

Secondly, I've mentioned that the 2016 referendum was a referendum on a theoretical version of Brexit. Over the time since then exactly what it will mean has been refined, and there is a deal in place. Shit deal, but it's there, and gives more clarity to things. Arguably, the December 2019 election, with Mr Johnson's key slogan, "Get Brexit Done", acted as a de-facto second referendum.

Mr Johnson's clear victory ends the parliamentary deadlock there has been since Mrs May's 2017 election. It puts in place enough MPs to vote for anything of a Brexit flavour Mr Johnson wishes to put through. There can be no more delays, we leave at the end of January. 

So, with no other route I can see to stop the folly that is Brexit, it is time to admit defeat. Well done, Brexiteers, you've finally (and this time, decisively), won. 

All you have to do now is prove me, and and everyone else like me, wrong. Make a success of Brexit. Ensure the United Kingdom thrives outside of the European Union. In a couple of years time I genuinely want to be able to say "I was wrong" as we go from strength to strength as a country. But it's on you Brexiteers to sort this, and ensure prosperity. I've no idea as to how this could happen, but I guess you must have a plan, and will carry it out. 

In the words of Ru-Paul; don't fuck it up. 

Speaking of whom; I did find myself very much enjoying the first season of the UK version of Ru-Paul's Drag Race. I'd seen bits of the US version before, but it never gelled with me, but there was something about this version that just seemed right. Maybe it was the familiar faces on the judging panel, or the queens themselves, but it was just great fun. Even though Baga Chipz was robbed. She was my favourite throughout, and I had her down as the winner. 

(Incidentally; was I the only one to think Davina Di Campio bore an uncanny resemblance to Alexander from Russell T Davies' breakthrough show, Queer as Folk?)

And of course (I'm digging these segues...) Russell was back this year with his scarily relevant drama Years and Years, which showed the world over the next 15 years descending in to a dystopian society. The thing is, though, it was all too believable. Looking at the world as it is now, most of what happens you can extrapolate from current events. Vivienne Rook is the logical step of populist, soundbite, politics. (See Mr Johnson's "Get Brexit Done" - how many other Tory policies from the election can you recall.) 

This was a family drama as an analogy for the world at large. Yes, the family ticked pretty much every diversity box, but that was the whole point of the thing. They were the springboard for each of the various plot strands, and it was a compact way of doing so without having to have ever straining ways to get the strands together. 

To my mind, there was one key moment of the series, which was when the matriarch of the family delivered her blistering speech where she blamed the family - and by extension the whole world - as being responsible for how things turned out. "This is the world we built." she concludes, and she was entirely correct. All too often we think we are just one person and as such are unable to make a difference. But all change starts with a single person, and you never can tell who that person will be. It could be you. Yes, you, reading this now. You might be the next person who could make a real change. You think you can't? Well, you've lost already. I mean, what chance an person could change the world... I mean, someone ordinary, could never do that...

...meanwhile, in Sweden, a 15 year old schoolgirl goes on strike from attending school. On her own. That could never grow in to something big, could it?

Greta Thunberg's rise to prominence over the last year has been blistering. She has probably raised more awareness of the climate emergency facing our planet than any other individual. Two years ago, you'd never heard of her. Her speech to Davos was one of the moments of the year, and gave hope that maybe this time there is a chance that things will be done to help reduce some of the damage we're doing to the planet. 

I say "this time" as I remember similar things being said about saving the planet when I was at school in the 80s - then the destruction of the ozone layer, and the overuse of CFCs would end up cooking the earth up due to the greenhouse effect. There was a sense of urgency then, too; it's still ongoing. 

Her speech ended with;

"Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is."

Over the year we've seen protests about the climate emergency on a scale not seen before - the Extinction Rebellion action around Easter closing down roads in London for days on end was unprecedented. And I get the feeling it's only the beginning, and there will be much more in 2020, and on a bigger scale. 

And it is people like Greta who give me hope. Hope that there is a chance that the world won't end up like the one predicted in Years and Years. The word we build over the coming years is up to us. Every single one of us. We will all have our part to play, and all we can do is our best. 

Good luck, everyone.