Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy, being in my nuddy

Farewell, Gunther Von Hagens, whose Body Worlds freakshows exhibitions of "plastinated" corpses were wildly popular amongst the ghoulish in the early 2000s.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• It could crush a small child news: As part of its centennial celebrations, the Los Angeles Public Library has put on display the world's biggest-ever pop-up book, spanning approximately 31 by 20 feet when open! Your arms would be aching trying to read that one...
• Surprising food choices for a heatwave news: Supermarket giant Waitrose has reported a surprise increase in sales of winter comfort foods, such as cottage pies, gratins and red wine, despite the ongoing heatwaves across the UK. Let's face it, that kind of dish is a damned sight tastier than lettuce, any day!
• We're almost at the end of [the somewhat concocted] "Disability Pride Month" [something I certainly never heard of in all the time I worked for the leading UK disability charity Scope, so I assume it's yet another US import] - but no further excuse is necessary, really, to play one of the UK's most celebrated and defiant disabled heroes, the late, great Ian Dury:

Ian Dury and The Blockheads - Reasons to be Cheerful (Part Three)

• Wakanda Forever news: In a surprise announcement at Comic-Con in San Diego, the next "Black Panther" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be British actor David Jonsson - an actor best known for, ummm, a load of stuff we've never watched and are not likely to, such as "investment bank-based drama" Industry or streaming-channel-only rom-com The Road Trip. Let's hope he lives up to expectations.
• Don't do this at home news: In possibly the most pointless Guinness World Record ever, an Idaho man got the record for the most consecutive flaming torch juggling catches while riding on a unicycle - and burned off his eyebrows in the process! The only thing that comes to mind is "why the fuck would you do that?"
• And, finally: RIP, "national treasure" Bill Oddie, comedian, broadcaster, one of the original hosts of the BBC's Springwatch, famous birdwatcher - and, of course, a pivotal member of this lot, one of the most beloved anarchic comedy troupes of the 70s, alongside Monty Python:

The Goodies - Kitten Kong

The Goodies - Funky Gibbon

And the weather? Heatwave #4 is upon us - with temperatures in London set to reach 33C/92F (and possibly higher) tomorrow, and no respite in sight. Pass me a gin'n'tonic with loads of ice and a slice of lime, my dear...

Don't believe me, just watch

I'm off to John-John's today for another "marathon Marvel geek-fest", catching up on bits of the MCU I haven't seen yet, like Wonder Man [above].

Here's something appropriate for the occasion, methinks!

Marvel Uptown Funk

Love it.

Closed

We're all off in Portmouth today - for Mother's 90th birthday!

"Normal" service should resume tomorrow...

You know what I'm looking for

Oh, blessed relief - the weekend's almost in sight. Thank fuck for that! I've had quite enough of this week. However, John-John and I are off to see the much-anticipated Fantastic Four: First Steps at the cinema in Leicester Square this evening, so there's something rather exciting to look forward to!

Meanwhile - you know you're getting older when...

...you discover that none other than our beloved Gina G celebrates her 55th birthday this weekend! Gulp.

I need no excuse to play this old fave yet again - and Thank Disco Gina It's Friday!

Gina G - Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit

You cannot help but smile whenever you hear that one - have a fab weekend, dear reader!

Weapons of mass destruction

Happy Bonfire Night! Enjoy the fireworks...

As well as watching all nine episodes of Agatha All Along on Saturday, John-John also dug out an old "X-Men" movie I hadn't seen - X-Men: First Class, that ostensibly covers the "origin story" of the mutant superhero team.

It has many flaws - not least playing "fast-and-loose" with the original comics version, including characters that were only written decades after the original team's debut, and dropping other integral characters altogether, which infuriated me throughout.

It might have helped if the dialogue, (some of) the acting, and the zig-zagging plot had been better. At times towards the end, I felt like I was reliving the utterly dreadful Independence Day, but with mutants.

It really comes to something when the best performance in the entire film was given by the lovely Michael Fassbender's impressive groinage! My kind of mutation....

---

Speaking of groinage...

It would have been Robert Mapplethorpe's birthday yesterday.

His 1989 touring exhibition The Perfect Moment, a retrospective following his death, caused huge furore and much clutching of pearls over the inclusion of the rather charming "Man in Polyester Suit" [as featured, left] (among other somewhat near-the-knuckle photos).

Portrayals of gay erotica were anathaema to the establishment in the Reagan era!

The exhibition's cancellation by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington provoked a censorship battle about national funding for the arts that was front-page news for the next year.

[click any pic to embiggen]

---

...and here's an appropriate number for the occasion:

20 Fingers feat. Gillette - Short Dick Man

All hail Priapus!

Why do only fools and horses work?

Many happy returns to Michael Douglas (80 years old) AND to his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones (55) today!

More "snippets" today, dear reader...

• Patron Saint news: Our Princess Kylie has announced a massive new tour– her biggest in more than a decade – taking in (so far, as announced) Australia, Asia and venues up and down the UK. Somewhat pricy, inevitably, so I think we may just bask in the memory of seeing her at Proms in the Park back in 2012...

• Comeback news: Former children's-TV-stalwart-turned-cosy-daytime-telly-host Phillip Schofield [see here], whose downfall - he was exposed as having an affair with a younger male colleague while ostensibly married with kids - made tabloid news headlines for months is returning to our screens in a new Channel 5 reality show Cast Away.
• Significant anniversary news: That most British of composers (with an admittedly Germanic name) Gustav Holst's 150th anniversary (which actually fell on 21st September 2024) was (as one might expect) well-and-truly celebrated at The Proms, and on BBC Radio 3 all last week. Lest I be accused of ignoring this milestone, here's one of the most melodramatic orchestral works of the early 20th century, by way of tribute:

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Elysian Singers, cond Susanna Mälkk - The Planets: 'Mars' [Holst, BBC Proms 2015]

• Hard man news: Vinnie Jones, the former top-class footballer who turned his hand to hard-man cinema roles has been announced as the latest new casting in - Only Fools and Horses: the musical in the West End! Gulp.

• And, finally: Happy Comic Book Day! As my regular reader will already know, I am a bit of a "Marvel geek" - and have been ever since I was a kid, when the original Spidey cartoon (and its magnificent theme tune) was a new thing:

Spiderman theme song 1960s

And the weather? Foul, gloomy and wet.

Stormy?

[click to embiggen]

I spent another long day yesterday at John-John's, catching up with all the "Marvel geek" stuff I hadn't seen - the whole X-Men: 97 animated series and not one, but two of the original (20th Century Fox) X-Men films [which are not a patch on the cartoon, and quite half-arsed in comparison to anything Marvel's own studio has produced].

Deadpool didn't get a look in this time around, but I found the above spoof versions of the sort of advert that used to be in the comics I had when I was young, which are too good not to share, dear reader!

I got home (via Uber cab) in the wee small hours, just in time for the most tremendous thunderstorm!

Coincidence? Maybe.

Although all that's blown over, and today's weather's not that bad, I still think this old fave is appropriate...

...a track I previously described as "a battle-royal between Miss Viola Wills and Miss Lena Horne":

Viola Wills - Stormy Weather (Disco Video Mix by Glenn Rivera)

Faboo!

Of Doom, the Kenwood Chef and the Nitty Gritty

A snippets post again, dear reader...

• Geek news: The still-handsome-and-exceedingly-rich Robert Downey Jr has announced his return to Marvel films - but not as his mega-successful character Tony Stark/Iron Man [who was killed-off in 2019's Endgame], instead he's taking the role of one of the comics' oldest arch-villains Doctor Doom!

• Weirdest shoplifting spree ever: A thief who stole 798 Cadbury's Creme Eggs has been jailed for eight months. If he ate them all, he must have been sick as a pig - and is probably now diabetic!

• Design news: What do the Kenwood Chef food mixer, the Kodak Instamatic camera, the Ronson Rio hairdryer, the Morphy Richards iron, the InterCity 125 high-speed train and the 1997 TX1 version of the London taxi have in common? Their designs were the work of one man - Sir Kenneth Grange! (RIP)

• Biblical plague news: Beach-goers in Rhode Island were swamped by a massive swarm of dragonflies. Harmless, apparently, but I think I'd have covered the sandwiches.

• And finally: Sad news - as the "best 60s dancer ever" viral social media hit of a few years ago Bobby Banas has departed for the great "Nitty Gritty" dancefloor on Fabulon...

Shirley Ellis - The Nitty Gritty

Faboo!

---

STOP PRESS:

Choices, choices...

Thomas Ceccon...

...or Jules Bouyer?

[click to embiggen]

I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there

Needless to say, "Marvel geeks" John-John and I had a whale of a time when we went to see Deadpool & Wolverine on its opening night in Leicester Square last night!

It's perhaps not a film for the faint-hearted - true to the "Merc with the Mouth"'s previous movies, there's lots of blood and gore and fighting and swearing, but there's also also bucketloads of laugh-out-loud moments and innuendo. There's also some very clever digs at both 20th Century Fox (from whence the two characters originally got their big-screen spotlights) and Disney/Marvel (which recently bought Fox out) - and it's the latter's multiversal lore that provides the excuse to bring all the characters into the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe]. There's not only a slew of familiar characters from Deadpool 1 and 2 and X-Men films, together with the "Time Variance Authority" from Marvel's recent Loki television series - but also a joyful raft of very unexpected cameos, indeed... All that, and a splendidly evil villainess with an (ahem) interesting massage technique!

I won't spoil any of the plot - I'll leave it to you to get your own cinema tickets, or not as the case may be - but suffice to say, at a crucial moment in the film a very familiar and beloved choon comes into its own.

Thank Disco Madonna It's Friday!

Madonna - Like A Prayer

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Of Marvels, hidden and not-so-hidden London, and Kungs

"The social whorl never ceases", I said in response to a comment from Ms Scarlet the other day. Indeed it doesn't...

I was early arriving in the West End [deliberately so, as I neglected last Sunday to check whether there was a programme available for the Mandy Patinkin show, so went to the Lyric Theatre box office to enquire; the chap didn't know, but said he'd ask the promoter and give me a call] to meet up with John-John yesterday, and took a detour around the old stamping-grounds of Soho to the camp-as-tits dressing-up shop So High Soho before trolling down to our meeting place, the Wetherspoons in Leicester Square. The occasion? The latest Marvel blockbuster, The Marvels - which was a darn-sight better than some of the reviews would lead one to believe! Afterwards, since we were in Leicester Square, and he'd never been, I took John-John to the faboo rooftop bar at the swanky Hippodrome Casino for a drink and to take in the atmosphere of one of the best "hidden London" venues, looking down on the hubbub of the West End, before we ended up at Halfway II Heaven, in the company of chums Joe and Russ.

Today, I woke too early after what ended up a rather late night, felt a bit restless, and decided to take myself off to the sheer madness and crowds of Camden Market - again, like Soho, somewhere I haven't really meandered around since before the pandemic... It's not for the faint-hearted, and is in a constant state of flux so it's very easy to turn the wrong corner and find you're somewhere you've already been, but I thoroughly enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere and tutting at the bewildered tourists!

I came home empty-handed, but that's only because I was "umm-ing and aa-ing" about a particularly pricy "object of desire". It's payday next week, and I can almost guarantee I'll head back there and buy it...

Meanderings aside, I heard a choon today I hadn't heard for ages (we loved it so much back in 2016 that The Madam even had its "hook" as his ringtone for a while!), and now it's an earworm. So I thought I'd share:

Kungs vs Cookin’ on 3 Burners

Still a great song, seven years down the line...

You too could be a hero (or villain, or robot)!

Fancy owning C3PO's head, Indiana Jones' whip, Captain Marvel's shield or even Freddy Krueger's murderous glove?

If you had a million or so to spare, you could - as these, and much, much more will be going under the hammer next week!

Propstore's Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction 2023 takes place between 9th and 12th October - and it will be live-streamed, so you don't need to miss any of the action...

[I had a look through the catalogue, and couldn't find Chris Hemsworth's penis listed, more's the pity...]

Holy Shitballs!

Aaaaargh! The alarm's gone off for the first time in twenty days, and I am not ready for all this shit again...

Here's a song that just about sums it all up, from one of the films I watched at John-John's the other day, Deadpool 2:

Tyler Bates - You Can't Stop this Mother Fucker! [Deadpool 2 (Original Motion Picture Score)]

Have a good week, dear reader. I won't.

It's a big hammer

John-John and I went to see Thor: Love and Thunder last night. There were some rather impressive moments, indeed - such as the above. Unpixellated, too.

Yum, yum.

All together, now...

Leonard Nimoy - If I had a hammer

Love is never tragical when you got the magical feelings coming through

Magic's come a long way since the days of Tommy Cooper and Paul Daniels...

John-John and I went to see the latest Marvel blockbuster Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness last night (just three days after its première!). Needless to say, it was stunning...

...if perhaps a movie that is more aimed at "geeks" like us, given the depth of complexity to the plot and its ties to several previous stories including Spider Man: No Way Home and Wandavision. But it has sufficient fast-paced battles, scary chases and even a touch of gore (courtesy of director Sam Raimi) to please the audience.

Changing tack completely, here's an "appropriate" song to take our minds off the drizzle outside...

Limmie and the Family Cookin' - You Can Do Magic

Lordy - haven't heard that in years..!

Spins a web, any size; catches thieves just like flies

Phlox subulata “Fabulous Rose” is a big show-off at them moment in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers
[click to embiggen]

Another gloriously sunny day - yesterday hit 23C in London! - and I'm off for another Marvel-film-fest at our friend John-John's [although I have no doubt there'll be plenty of breaks in the proceedings to bask in the sunshine].

Among the treats on offer is the latest Spiderman: No Way Home, so I thought this might be a most appropriate choon for the day...

Michael Bublé - Spiderman

Don't get sunburnt, kiddywinkies!

More Spiderman here and here.

Ikaris' hidden weapon

I spent most of the day yesterday at our friend John-John's, on another Marvel movies binge-watch - firstly Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [which was heaps of fun, with loads of stylish fight scenes and a spell-binding smattering of pseudo-Eastern mythology, as well as some very funny moments and a scene-stealing appearance from Sir Ben Kingsley to boot] and then the one the critics sneered at, Eternals.

It is actually a very good fantasy/sci-fi film indeed - much better than some of the reviewers had said. I think the main reason the film was the subject of so much ire is that it breaks the pattern of the previous twenty-odd movies, and has very little discernible connection to any of them. [It's a well-documented fact that everything up to and including Avengers: Endgame had been part of a "thread" that all revolved around the Infinity Stones and Thanos. Apart from the tiniest throwaway references to Thanos and "The Snap" - which was an important plot point in Avengers: Infinity War - Eternals largely sidesteps the whole shebang and takes its own path.]

Much of the reason it is so enjoyable is not just the stunning visuals, scary monsters and the weird galactic mythos, or the battle-royal with a monster in the middle of Camden, but the cast (that includes Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan and Kit Harington). Speaking of Mr Madden, it was interesting that his costume included a "skirt" [yes, it is true to the comics character, but...] - and there may be a very good reason for that, given his previous comments about wearing tight-fitting costumes in movies for the Disney empire:

Richard Madden will soon be seen as Ikaris in Eternals, but few people remember him as Prince Charming in Cinderella (2015).

While on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, Madden revealed that his genitals created a big problem for the crew during filming. The actor apparently had a very large “bulk” in his pants that was not appropriate to be seen in a Disney movie.

"The prince can't have any genitalia, apparently," Madden said. "We had about two days of screen tests where we had to try lots of different jock straps, just to make sure we can't see anything through the trousers."

“I had a really bad day, as I tried different athletic supports and had several cameras and lights aimed at my groin. And everyone watched and discussed what was happening down there,” said the well-endowed actor.

He did not reveal how Disney solved the issue, but in Eternals, the character’s costume was created to solve this problem.

Unfortunately.

Thought for the day

“Coming from your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!”

He's gotta be larger than life

We're off to our friend John-John's today, to finally get to see Avengers:Endgame (apparently just released on streaming services, M'Lud)!

I know it's terribly obvious, but there is really only one thing I can play for the occasion...

Avengers - Bonnie Tyler - Holding out for a Hero

Indeed.

Excelsior

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

“Some people will say, 'Why read a comic book? It stifles the imagination. If you read a novel you imagine what people are like. If you read a comic, it's showing you.' The only answer I can give is: 'You can read a Shakespeare play, but does that mean you wouldn't want to see it on the stage?'”

"I'm very proud of being a hack. It's why I've lived as long as I have, I think."

"You know, my motto is 'Excelsior.' That's an old word that means 'upward and onward to greater glory.' Keep moving forward, and if it's time to go, it's time. Nothing lasts forever."

The man whose extensive and fertile imagination changed the way comics were perceived, and indeed made as huge a contribution to society's need for escapism and fantasy as many academically analysed novelists or playwrights, Stan Lee is dead.

Never mind the all-consuming "Marvel Cinema Universe" - impressive though its impact has been over the past few years on box-office sales, despite never being taken seriously by the likes of the Oscars - Mr Lee's creations have been household names for more than fifty years, and the complicated situations and sometimes very human dilemmas in which they became involved have brightened the lives of generation after generation of children and budding adults (me included).

The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Thor, Wolverine, Vision, Nick Fury, Scarlet Witch, the Skrulls, Loki, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Black Panther, Thanos, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Ultron, Hydra, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Deadpool, Black Widow, Grandmaster, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, the Red Skull, Adam Warlock, Ghost Rider, Venom, Green Goblin, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Inhumans, the Avengers and the X-Men - he created them all...

“Nuff said!”

RIP, Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber, 28th December 1922 – 1`2th November 2018)

That European singsong competition thing you guys lose your shit over

Another tedious week drags to a close, and we are on the eve of our grand Eurovision Song Contest/house-warming/20th anniversary/"any excuse" party!

Good news - the fascist Chinese TV channel that airbrushed rainbow flags from its broadcast of the semi-finals has been banned from showing the contest. Bad news - Deadpool says we have "woken the sleeping moose" for not allowing Canada into the contest ("You let in Australia and they're barely on the planet!"):

Deadpool 2 - Eur Missing a Country

Love that. But, enough of the distractions - let's get this year's party started (a little prematurely, maybe) with a clutch of some (vaguely) Disco-themed or just plain danceable classics, and thank Eurovision it's Friday!

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 - Serhat - I Didn't Know (San Marino)

Eurovision Song Contest 1996 - Gina G - Ooh, Aah... Just A Little Bit (UK)

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 - Deen - In The Disco (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Eurovision Song Contest 1981 - Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up (UK)

Don't forget to rip your skirt off at the key-change, peeps...