The Moon's a balloon!
| Posted | 3 March 2007 5:10:00 PM |
Just watched the most beautiful eclipse of the moon. Over three-quarters of an hour, we watched as the familiar silver disc faded to a glorious pinky-orange colour - the sheer eeriness of the effect took your breath away! Normally the brightness of the moon makes it appear a bit two-dimensional, just a source of light. But now the moon was in 3D, and clearly a spherical object - we could make out every contour and feature as it hung there in the North London sky like some child's lost balloon. A fantastic show by Mother Nature - simply stunning! |
Why Newport?
| Posted | 5 March 2007 10:43:00 AM |
A mystery begins... Why on earth would supposedly "cool" US rapper Kanye West possibly order a banquet (and chef) to be flown to New York from Newport, of all places? Newport, mostly famous for mud, violence, poverty and pound shops - oh, and the Transporter Bridge - is hardly renowned for its international cuisine! Unless you count gravy and chips, of course. So this begs the question - how did anyone from the US rap community get to know a restaurant in the little-known Newport suburb of Rogerstone? What was Snoop Dogg doing there? And if the restaurant is so good, why hasn't it moved somewhere more lucrative, like a real city for example? Answers on a postcard, please... |
Queens of Disco
| Posted | 6 March 2007 4:23:00 PM |
| Oh Wow! Queens of Disco on BBC4 tonight! Only Graham Norton could possibly be able to present such a programme - a whole hour of divas - all we could ever ask for.  From Donna Summer to Gloria Gaynor to Sylvester to Chaka Khan to Grace Jones to Madonna... I think I've just cum! The New York Season continues on BBC4 for the next week, including specials on Blondie, Studio 54 and the history of Hip Hop, Disco and Punk. |
He's Free!
| Posted | 8 March 2007 10:43:00 AM |
| John Inman, most famous as the uber-camp Mr Humphries of "Are You Being Served", has died at 71 after suffering years of illness with Hep A. His life and death will no doubt raise the inevitable discussion about whether or not the portrayal of a mincing, effeminate queen on mainstream TV was a positive thing (given the absolute popularity of the show and his character), or was this the ultimate example of an "Auntie Tom" - betraying the efforts of equality campaigns to portray us gay people as somehow "normal"? In many ways, both arguments have their validity - but for me, I really believe that the loss of such an inspirational camp character, with so many acting talents apart from the one role for which he will always be remembered, is a massive loss. Far greater a loss than any of the prissy, "straight-acting", complacent, Rupert Street-drinking queens of the Soho scene will ever realise! For every snide comment about people being "too camp", for every bitchy snub to the "old queen in the corner", the gay people of today actually owe a HUGE debt to John and his generation.  Where indeed would we be without them? Danny LaRue, Phil Starr, Maisie Trollette, Mrs Shufflewick, Regina Fong, Larry Grayson, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Frankie Howerd, Stanley Baxter, Quentin Crisp, Charles Hawtrey, Lee Sutton... They lived by their own formula, in an era when holding hands in Compton Street was only a very very distant hope, and queer-bashing and illegality were not just condoned by the majority in society, but a part of the daily routine. Bless you, John Inman! You are yet another loss to the REAL history of gay "society". |
I shall say zis only once... why?
| Posted | 10 March 2007 10:43:00 AM |
French wartime sitcom 'Allo 'Allo is returning for a one-off special, the BBC has confirmed. The new episode, which will reunite the original cast, is being recorded in Manchester on 22 March and is due to be screened later in the spring. Good grief! Why on earth would anyone possibly think that this jaded, one-joke "comedy" should ever be revived? Unless in this special the Germans win the war, of course, and the whole bloody lot of them end up dead. |
Words Words Words
| Posted | 11 March 2007 10:43:00 AM |
| What on earth is wrong with people who make up words for no apparent reason? The English language is a cornucopia of perfectly reasonable verbs, nouns and adjectives. Then comes this!  Where on earth did the word "monetise" come from? (Or "blogsplosive" for that matter - but at least we could argue that is a typical example of a "portmanteau word", used by writers in an ironic fashion and never meant to be taken seriously). "I monetise, you monetise, they monetise" - what next, "monetisation", "monetisory"...? I despair! Some people need a good wholesome dose of Never Mind the Full Stops before they embark on this needless mission to mangle our beautiful language... |
And onwards to the rest of this blog...
