Today I am launching a fanfare for Australian TV...not only does it have a fantastic film industry but it has also started to create some top notch drama...
Underbelly
What a fucking hard and great series this is...Melbourne mobsters, loose women, bent cops...but the best bit is that it's all based on fact. In fact when they were showing this in Australia it was banned in some states as the trials of the people portrayed were still going on! The characters are well written and the actors come from the cream of Australias crop. Les Hill, who used to play the lovely Blake in Home and Away, shows off all his talents and his hard man image :) Also Rodger Corser plays the very enigmatic policeman working his way from uniformed cop to detective. The violence is graphic but integral to the plot. Overall it is an extremely well written and produced series....now if only British TV would buy it!...never mind, all the episodes are available for download at your local edonkey stop!
Now for the latest Australian soap "Out of the Blue" which started on the BBC this afternoon...the first two episodes were quite promising and it looked to be a series which has had a bit of money thrown at it...the premise is that a group of twenty somethings go back to a Sydney resort area for a reunion, and all the drama starts from there including death, deception, hot lust and seaside...well as 'hot' as you can get at 2.15pm on a weekday...it should have all the housewives creating static whilst enjoying it in their nylon overcoats wishing for a better life before the kids come home and the beery slob gets home from work...luckily I am on holiday this week so I will see how the first episodes pan out and let you know...
Most listened to song of my moment
Anna Ternheim...I know it's getting on a bit in age but i love her and I think that this deserves another airing.
...well it arrived for at least one day...today has been glorious, the back door is open, the smell of barbecues fills the air...the expensive waft of my 'Comme des garcons" fragrance plays merrily with the sunlit engorged air and I sit here feeling quite joyous and frivolous.
What have you been up to then?...eh?
As I have probably said I have been extolling the wonders of the lovely Delia Smith's book called 'How to Cheat'...in that book there is a lovely recipe for cottage pie and shepherds pie...well I have found a veggie alternative...instead of the tin of minced lamb or minced beef you can add a tin of 'Stag' (important that it is that brand) vegetable garden chilli to the recipe...mixed with the Aunt Bessies mash and gruyere topping it works really well and is just as magnificently tasty as the carniverous alternative.
The link above takes you to the video of 'Time to Pretend' by MGMT (Not available for embedding...boo hiis!)which is a stunning song that I only came across from watching 'Skins' ....the album is bloody magnificent! This is definitely on my list for the best of 2008 so far. Another great album is by the 'Last shadow puppets' who did a magnificent turn on the Jools Holland show the other night...The arttic monkeys man showed great maturity in the writing of these songs and the album has track after track ofr spaghetti western/ Lee hazelwood goodness...it really is an album that eveyone should have.
I saw this film yesterday and it is a great example of excellent british movie making, it's a beautiful coming of age story about friendship, guns, girls and Rambo! The film is funny, extremely well acted and the period pieces are just about spot on...if you want a really feelgood night out then I can't do any more than to urge you to see this film...by the way I was shedding a tear or two by the end, just to warn all of you sensitive leos out there!
Tonight my friends I am accusing Nintendo Corp of creating panic buying and inflated pricing (allegedly)...do you know why?...well I shall tell you...Mario Kart Wii was released on Friday, it's the great new game with the driving wheel. Of course the whole world wants one including me...so what happens?...Nintendo let a few thousand into the country and thats it, all gone...Saturday morning at the shops there were none to be found, it was like xmas in fucking April. There were tears and tantrums, not only from me my friends, but a whole lot of other people...what happens next?...surprise surprise they all start popping up on ebay, on average 10 pounds more expensive than in the shops!...This is where the problem lies, Nintendo sell to retailers, retailers don't sell them in their shops, retailers sell them on ebay...with everyone scrambling for the best price frantically bidding miniseconds before the end auction time...yes,i have just bought one, yes i paid slightly over the top for one but hey!...I'm sure it's going to be glorious when it arrives... PS...the same happened with 'Sonic and Mario at the Olympics'
Still on the Wii front I will give credit to Nintendo for producing an amazing bit of kit called Wii Fit which is out soon in the UK...watch the trailer and prepare to be entranced...
Yes it looks excellent but it still ain't gonna help my lardy arse do any press ups in the near future!
The days go by...but the problems just get worse...
Having lived in Africa for five years I know that these people do not deserve the treatment they are getting...if you can do ANYTHING to let them here that you want to help (even if it's just starting a blog and filling it full of anti Mugabe videos) then please do, everything counts!
well what a shambles Glastonbury Festival has turned out to be this year...no serious headliners (Jay Z, Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen? WTF?) loads of unsold tickets (last festival they were sold within two hours, it's overpriced itself out of reach with a crap lineup...Michael Eavis has possibly gone quite mad! His daughter Emily is just massaging her ego...they did rescue themselves with one band though 'Band of Horses' who happen to be on my most played list....but I am not paying 160 pounds to see one band in three swamp filled days (it will be a miracle if it's not!). It's a real shame but if this is the way things are going to go then I think Glastonbury ought to bow out gracefully before the rot sets in even further. Glastonbury Festival R.I.P.
A defining moment from Faithless (Glastonbury 2002)
Well what I predicted would happen in Zimbabwe did happen...Mugabe and his drunken machete wielding troops are once again running riot on peaceful villages and towns, white farmers are being terrorised even further and nobody seems strong enough over there to get rid of him...I say Enough is Enough, let him face the special forces...Bring it on!
I felt I was in an episode of Sex and the City last night, I went with a friend to a friends house where there was also another friend who joined us. The next three hours were spent with coffee, chinese food, ruminating over decent revenge tactics, what we like in bed, how to keep a man, how to get a man, how to get rid of a man when you don't want him anymore....it was exhausting but deliciously funny...one day I may write my memoirs in which I will go into greater detail...but in the meantime, you know who you are ;)
Album of the week
Yes, i know it's the film trailer but the album is terrific too !
have a nice couple of days...be good to each other :) ciao x
Hi greaser guys and cool chicks!....it's that time of the day...the time to read piddys blog, now i know i've been a bit erratic with the postings but time just gets the better of me sometimes and these days the only time I get to write is in between work in the funeral parlor...possibly not the most condusive place to write but very possibly the most peaceful :)
PLEASE BOYCOTT THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES...IT'S THE ONLY WAY THAT TIBET STANDS A CHANCE.
I have decided to experiment a bit with writing, what I aim to do is to become a new author on the gay porn circuit to see if I could get published...I have a list of publishers who are accepting new writers so I held a little survey on my favourite Gay socialising site www.outeverywhere.com to see what scenarios and fetishes turned guys on when they were reading...having got some useful feedback I have now draughted out a rough story in which I aim to have about 2 orgasms per chapter as that seems to be the acceptable rule. I'm not going to say much more for now but will keep you posted on how it is going...I may put little excerpts on here but have to be careful as the site can be accessed by minors....
DVD of the week
Buy 'Cloverfield' now!
Album of the week moby will release his sixth studio album last night on 31st march (uk) & 1st april (usa) 2008. the album was recorded in moby's home studio in manhattan ny and features a number of guest vocalists and includes the original 70's mc grandmaster caz one of the writers of rappers delight, sylvia from kudu, the uk's mc aynzli and the nigerian 419 squad.
moby on 'last night' '"last night" is basically a love letter to dance music in new york city. what i love about the new york approach to dance music is the eclecticism and the open minded-ness on the part of the musicians, the dj's, and the people in the bars and clubs. in making 'last night' i essentially tried to take a long 8 hour night out in new york city and condense it into a 65 minute long album
It really is a magnificent album !
Just going back to the porn I forgot to say that if any of you lovely readers have especially filthy minds then please leave any scenarios or fantasies in the comments box :)
Ciao xx
MUGABE WAS A DICTATING MURDERER...ZIMBABWE DESERVES BETTER. PLEASE PROTEST.
A bit of a serious one today...Fitna is the word being uttered today from hushed political and Islamist lips...it's also a word which is the title of a short but horrifying film about extreme Islamism which has been created by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The film juxstaposes visions of extreme terrorism with highlighted extracts from the Quran. The idea of the film is that extremeist Islam has had it's 15 minutes of fame and now it's time for it to be outlawed. How successful this film is to put across that point of view to the viewer is up to them. Personally at times I found the 17 minute film racist and disturbing on the part of the Dutch politician but then you see image on image of dead americans, dead jews, dead gays, dead women and it tends to turn your thoughts to anger. The film is not easy at all to watch but i think it needs to be seen. I was going to post the film on the blog here but threats and violent acts have already been made against people supporting or promoting the film. Please therefore click on the link (or copy and paste it into your browser header) if you would like to see it...it's a very sad world that we have to survive in....
WARNING: THE FILM DOES CONTAIN SCENES OF GRAPHIC AND INTENSE VIOLENCE
well easter comes and goes, one God gets crucified and resurrected whilst another in another culture gets born...it's very hard to keep up with the coming and going of Gods you know....wouldn't it be great to be so multi cultured that you could celebrate something every day and never have to work even though you would get paid as they are official holidays!...you do realise that if you looked at our calendar you could actually do this, apart from March..that seems to be lacking in any sort of God days but does have the most German national hoilidays I believe...oh well, we British don't even get a day off for St George (good job too as it probably would be taken over by the BNP as a national fascist day!) so the likelihood of being allowed to have any more fun is about...nil !
What does everyone know then?...I am lacking in information today, nobody has imparted anything...I have not come across anything salacious although I have heard something about a Radio 1 DJ, apacket of cheese straws and a well known bald musician...but the liable judges would be on to me straight away :(
I'm sat here thinking of where to go on holiday and it's a real quandry... I don't have my little Lisa this year as she has been whisked away by a knight in shining armour, my other half Mike doesn't like the sun and heat so I can't go to my usual haunts (even though I'm sure he would have a ball) and so that is the point I have reached...do i go by myself and look like billy no mates for two weeks? I know one thing, I have to have a holiday where I can escape from this shit hole of a country...but what to do, what to do....answers in the comments box at the end of todays blog please...
'Brick Lane' (trailer above) is a beautiful film...I watched it yesterday evening and was spellbound by the wonderful acting of the main protagonists, it's quite a sad story but a daring and contemporary one as regards to Indian culture and beliefs. The cinematography in the films overture is beautiful, showing a life of peace happiness and beauty in the Indian countryside which is counterbalanced by the grime and grim surroundings of Brick Lane later in the film. I don't really want to talk about the plot as that is something that needs to be explored and discovered and then discussed by yourselves. It really is a stunner of a film and I'm so glad that Film 4 keep finding and financing the films that it does. Go See it...
First thing i want to say is ...Fuck you Alistair Darling and your fucking budget...I now nominate you cunt of the year and I really don't think anything will top it. Why the anger?...I'll tell you why, it's always the same people that get help in this country, married couples, children and older people...oh..and the rich...yet again there is nothing to help the single people of this country or those in same sex relationships. Labour has lost my vote, the party is now just another branch of the Conservative Party and if someone paid me 5000 pounds to leave the country I would gladly do so!
I also feel very cultured today as I have bought a ticket to a opera..how very posh you might think...but wait, it's a freaky mind fuck opera which has been based on David Lynch's masterpiece 'Lost Highway'...it's being produced by the English National Opera and the production promises audio visuals, electronic treatments and spatially confusing sound..how utterly thrilling, can't wait to get to The Young Vic to see it on April 7th...the great news is it's only 30 pounds per ticket :)
hi kids...Doesn't two weeks fly when you are having fun...took a little holiday but back now and raring not to go!
We went off to see 'The Editors' a few days ago at the wondrous Alexandra Palace in Londinium...what a gig....a very cool affair indeed! The train down was fine and we landed at St Pancras International Sattion/Airport in the early evening...You could see the tension and excitement in Little Lisa's eyes as we boarded the tube towards Wood Green (on the piccadilly line, 7 stops) and travelled towards our destination. Once out of the tube we had the thrill of taking a free shuttle bus up to the Palace...I had considered walking when I first saw my multimap print out of our route...but no fucker tells you that the route is just one totally huge hill...and so I'm glad we didn't...we were thrown onto the bus and herded upstairs where I sat next to a lovely girl who smiled at me knowingly thinking 'he's so excited'...Lisa sat up the fron a few seats forward. One big hill later and we arrived at the Palace...what an awesome building it is, harking back to times gone by and the thing that i detest most in this world, royalty. Great venue though...gigantically huge...we found our way into the great hall after a running buffet of Hot dog and spring roll (at very reasonable prices I must add) and stood and waited for the first band to appear...
Friends like these...mobius band
The mobius Band are an ultra hip ensemble who threw us into a magical world of elctro indie rock....excellent display of musicianship and showmanship....their time with us was too short...i should really like to partake of musical exposure with them once more.
Sons and Daughters - Guilt complex
Sons and Daughters took to the stage next and although not as good as the mobius band they were enjoyable for a while...I just kept getting taken back to the sound of The Revillos from my new wave days...even close enough to say that Adele could be the bastard daughter of Fay from The Revillos :) They are from Glasgow, they were produced by Brett from Suede, they are a festival band, watch them fly!
Then onto the main set...the lights lowered, the screams resounded around the cavernous auditorium, the stage lights lit up wildly and there was Tom playing his keyboards right in front of us...woo hoo!
An End Has a Start - The Editors
what then took place was a 75 minute power walk through the hits of one of the most musically brilliant bands around at the moment...the sound was spot on, everyone was having fun, Tom did his funny little microphone movements (to lisas delight)
Munich - The editors
...we all did the bouncy bouncy (well, because i is so tall I just nodded my head up and down to look like I was bouncing!)...singing, singing, singing, wanting more...a great great show...the encore came upon us and two thirds the way thyrough the sound was pulled...they had gone over the 10.30pm limit as set by the local council and so they just pulled the plug!..that was quite shocking but the band and the crowd took it mostly in good humour...after an excellent gig like that you couldn't help but just to smile...
Mark Ronson does it live, oh he so does....what a terrific night last Friday at The Hammersmith Carling Apollo when Mark Ronson visited on the London leg of his mini tour. The whole evening consisted of nearly 4 hours of live music. 1st support slot went to 'Dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip' who were amazing...I always describe him as an electronic and more vitriolic 'Streets'...his set featured his singles 'thou shalt always kill' 'The beat that my heart skipped' and 'Letter to God'..he was charismatic and deserved a larger audience although the keen ones(including me and lisa) who did manage to get in first were treated to a very cool set from someone who could quite possibly be a name for 2008.
The Beat That My Heart Skipped.
2nd Support slot went to the utterly fabulous 'Rumble Strips' who very much reminded me of the 'Farmers Boys' for the 00'ies. The rumbles have a very cute lead singer called Charlie who is very charismatic and holds the band together extremely well...the set consisted of material from the recently released Debut album. The horn section were terrific and the guys kept the atmosphere on top as they entertained us for about 40 minutes.
Alarm Clock
Mark Ronson then took to the stage at around 9.20 and presented his revue for the next hour and three quarters. Mark is a great producer and an adequate guitarist but his arrangements of songs are what he does best and all of his guest starts such as Daniel Merriweather, Candy Paine and Tim Burgess (from the Charlatans)laid testament to that fact on Friday night, it really took the format of Guest comes out, guest does the track or two off the album 'Version' and then guest does a song off their own album or single...it really worked...it harkened back to the days of the Motown revue etc... where a house band would play with the featured vocalists taking it in turn. This was not only something I had not seen in a long time, but it was also something that I think worked extremely well especially when hosted by the very good looking Mr personality who was Mark Ronson. I have one gripe...the sound was quite muddled which was a shame...the vocalist were too 'in the mix' with the music which made it very hard to hear clear lyrics or the onstage repartee that went on between guests and Ronson. I thought that this might be one point that we would not have to worry about with Mark being a producer but no..the sound was dodgy...the stage was a spectacle though so what the hell!
I'm breathless having just watched this amazing piece of existentialist cinema written and directed by our very own Sir Anthony.
It's obvious that the style of the film will gain comparisons with David Lynch, dreams, mystery, films within a film and like Lynch the editing, sound and cinematic process has been cared for and nurtured very carefully.
To be honest, I was really surprised with how well this film works although I did feel at one point that there were slightly too many characters to make the piece totally convincing.
If you like Lynch I really urge you to watch this film...the criminal thing is that no distributors have taken the film up for showing in this country...now I really understand why directors and actors have very little faith in the British Cinema system.
The good news is you can buy from 'Play.com USA' for 14.99 from the 26th Feb.
Saturday night was a fun evening to go out...I was treating my life partner to a dinner for Valentines so we went out to one of the local Chinese restaurants 'The China Palace', earlier in the day I had phoned up to book a table and the lovely Chinese man told me that I would not need to book but just turn up. So we did. We got to the door...'have you booked' ...no...'you need to book at the weekend'...i phoned this morning and was told i did not need to book...then lots of running, scowls, chinese shouting and a quick walk to the table which was moved away from another table next to it, thus leaving the man on the other table to nearly fall off his chair as he was using our table as an elbow leaning post. Having settled down we aimed straight for the crispy duck section..it had just been refilled and i managed to get there just before a big queue formed (or was it me that caused the queue?) I piled my little pancakes up, cucumber, spring onions and hoi sin sauce with a pile of fresh crispy duck and headed back...Mike followed. Next plateful was a cornucopia of tasting bits with some dim sum, prawn toasts, noodles, king prawn, seaweed (which iwas told was deep fried cabbage but i'm not sure) and satay chicken sticks...it was lovely, there was so much more to try but I can't eat that much these days...Mike was tempted with a piece of gateau and bought me back a grape (how loving)...where we were sat was just by the pudding section and at one point it looked a bit depleted...now most of us would sit down and just keep an eye out for replenishments, but not these three heffers that decided to stand right next to us waiting for top ups of caramel balls and yum yums whilst their steely pots of ice cream melted in their waiting hands...they had huge arses and you could see why!...it's a nice restaurant although a little busy, next time I might go during the week.
some j-pop for you
We then decided to top the evening off at the local gay pub 'The Barley Mow'...it was still fairly early when we got there so we sat down and looked around...in one corner were sat a few aged gentlemen, one of whom turned out to be celebrating his eightieth birthday...80 years a queen (that was more than Victoria wasn't it?). His name was Ray, I found that out by walking into a banner saying 'Happy 80th birthday Ray', it had balloons and sparkles..it was most tasteful. I must say though that they did look like the Big Gay Mafia, all in their dark suits with scarves hanging around their off the shoulder jackets. In another corner were the three stooges, three young guys who trailed around like baby ducks looking for a mother duck..they were most amusing, especially when two of them went outside without telling the third...it was like watching a meerkat on heat, his little face was a look of panic until his mates came back in. The drunken Lesbians were in the music room...they did not give Lesbains a very good name, and were the equivalant of a mans rugby team in a pub...mind you, Lesbians these days look a lot more feminine than they used to, I remember the short haired, dungareed lesbians from my youth..but these are no more..they are still as loud though! As time drifted by we people watched...we saw the rent boys walking through the pub one way and then the other, looking for an easy target to get an evenings supply of drinks before giving them a quick blowie on the way home to justify their spend out. We saw a very hunky guy (who I knew from somewhere but i couldn't remember...I exclaimed to Mike during the evening that I remembered 'I shagged him...' but then told him it was a lie...he didn't like that ;) ) That poor guy looked like he had been stood up though, he kept looking at his watch and seemed rather dejected and I did feel sorry for him, I've been there...I know how that feels! The music got louder and the drinks flowed...after a while we decided to go home and left The Barley Mow to revel in it's debauchery for the rest of the night...
happy valentines day you orrible little scrote bags...hope you had a lovely one and i hope the cherub of love pricked his arrow into some of your big fat lurve asses out there. For those of you not getting laid tonight I present a selection of light reading...refreshments can be provided from your own reserve but i reccommend a nice icy crisp sauvignon blanc to go along with todays approved readings...
This is the most random protest against scientology that i have ever seen...it was peaceful, fun and good humoured...just what protests should be like...I think the scientologists holed up in both locations were pretty embarrassed by the end of the day! An excellent bit of blog use which I would be so proud of if it was mine.
Hmmm...so Aretha Franklin got all arsey because Beyonce introduced Tina Turner at the grammys with the title 'Queen of Soul'...well Aretha Franklin better get herself off her very fat agrophobic arse and prove to the world that she still is the 'queen of soul' and not just sit there fucking moaning about it!
Oh good god I am deffo hooked on the latest series of 'Torchwood'...for those of you who did not see the second episode of the double bill last night you are in for a traumatic event next week that transcends any other traumatic event in the history of 'Torchwood' ..be prepared. This series is so well written compared to the last and each week brings a new level of emotion to the stories...I may have progressed to a whole roll of toilet paper by the end of the series. Another series that I am now getting back into is 'Lost'..I am still half way through Series 3 of the programme but catching up rapidly...I can't believe that Claire is Jacks half sister...who the fuck saw that coming!...hang on...didn't he have boinky boinky thoughts towards her in the first few episodes...something to do with a pregnancy fetish bought on by too much womens bits surgeries? Yay Lost!
A great start to the new series of 'Skins', the whole cast has come together really well but I do feel sorry for Tony which I'm not comfortable about...in television characters with a disability of any kind are shown as helpless cases...why should this be...it was a nice touch with Maxie helping him to write his signature. We'll see how it goes but It may turn out that it would have been kinder to kill him off...thats if the writers don't get it right!
