Managing the bejeezus

I decided not to tempt fate by mentioning it at the time, but last week I went for an interview for an "acting-up" position in work...

...and I got it! On this Tacky Music Monday, as I start day one in the new (if temporary) role - (for a change) like Captain and Tennille I Just Want To Celebrate!

Captain & Tennille - I Just Want To Celebrate

Have a good week, chums!

There ain't a thing that's wrong with any man here

It is Sunday, a day when I traditionally indulge in BBC Radio 2's all-day "Our Kind of Music"-fest - which, of course, includes songs from the musicals...

And, as Steve Hayes aka "Tired Old Queen at the Movies" is here to explain, they don't get much gayer than South Pacific!

Tired Old Queen at the Movies - South Pacific

Mitzi Gaynor, lurid Technicolour, timeless songs, hunky boys and Bali Ha'i - what more could you want?

South Pacific on IMDB

But guess who is gonna be dessert?

Another of the world's greatest on-screen presences - eternally remembered as the "exotic" leading man in Dr Zhivago and brooding co-star of Lawrence of Arabia - and unlikely sex symbol of the hirsute 60s and 70s, Omar Sharif has died aged 83.

By way of a little tribute, here is MegaBabs trying (unsuccessfully) to evade his clutches in Funny Girl...

Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif - You Are Woman, I Am Man

You are woman, I am man
You are smaller, so I can be taller than,
You are softer to the touch,
It's a feeling I like feeling very much.
You are someone I've admired,
Still, our friendship
Leaves something to be desired.
Does it take more explanation than this?
You are woman, I am man -
Let's kiss.

Isn't this the height of nonchalance,
Furnishing a bed in restaurants?
Well, a bit of dinner never hurt,
But guess who is gonna be dessert?
Do good girls do just what mama says,
When mama's not around?
It's a feeling,
Oy vey, what a feeling.

A bit of pâté?

I drink it all day!
Should I do the things he'll tell me to?
In this pickle what would Sadie do?
In my soul I feel an inner lack,
Just suppose he wants his dinner back?

Just some dried-out toast in a sliver
On the top a ...a little chopped liver.
How many girls become a sinner
While waiting for a roast beef dinner?
Though most girls slip in ordinary ways
I got style - I do it Bordelaise.
Well at least you think I'm special -
You ordered à la carte.

It's a feeling, I like feeling very...
I feel the feeling down to my toes
Now I feel that there's a fire here,
Try that once a little higher, dear,
What a beast to ruin such a pearl!
Would a convent take a Jewish girl?

Does it take more explanation than this?

Ooo the thrills and chills going through me
If I stop him now,
Can he sue me?

You are woman.

You are man.

Let's...

RIP Omar Sharif (10th April 1932- 10th July 2015)

Don't you let nothing, nothing stand in your way

After yesterday's epic journey across chaotic Tube-strike-hit London, I am hoping for a rather more leisurely countdown to the weekend, back in the office. At least, if they're fighting to get on buses this morning, I can easily walk it.

To assist our quest to get to five o'clock without committing assault, here's the late, great duo McFadden and Whitehead - with a bevy of hairsprayed-to-oblivion ladies wearing what appear to be oversized headscarves over pedal-pusher jeans; a nice look...

Thank Disco It's Friday!

McFadden and Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now

An integral part of the powerhouse that was Gamble & Huff's 'Philadelphia International' label in the 1970s, McFadden and Whitehead wrote Back Stabbers for The O'Jays, Show You The Way To Go for The Jacksons, and were producers for (among others) Archie Bell & the Drells, Melba Moore, Gloria Gaynor and Freddie Jackson. This is the only song on which they actually sang that anyone remembers, however.

Have a lovely weekend, one and all!

Around the world in eighty brews

It's an adventure!

Think of me, sweeties. Today, in the middle of (yet another) Tube strike - it seems a £40k starting salary is not enough for them; boo hoo - I am wending my way from our abode in North London to a meeting in Kingston-upon-Thames, which is about as far south as one can go before London ends and the "Home Counties" begin. The Overground rail and the buses are "unaffected by industrial action". Apparently.

We shall see. I have my trusty pith helmet and native guides at the ready...

...and no doubt will need a Cup of Brown Joy by the end of it, like that "arch Victorian" adventurer, Professor Elemental!

Professor Elemental - Cup of Brown Joy

Professor Elemental website

That's why I'm in such exquisite agony

She does "Say Something Hat" days very well

Many happy returns today to the utterly magnificent Anjelica Huston who, no matter what film she is in, always steals the screen...

To celebrate, here she is as Morticia (with Gomez) camping it up in The Addams Family:

Morticia and Gomez (Anjelica Houston and Raul Julia) - Masochism Tango

[The classic song by Tom Lehrer, of course.]

Anjelica Huston (born 8th July 1951)

(Serious) thought for the day

Still here, indeed.

It is ten years since the terrorist London bombings, in which 52 people died and more than 700 were hurt.