Friday 30 December 2005

Films of 2005

Here's my round up of my favourite films of the year.

1. Sideways
Paul Giamatti follows up last year's American Splendor with an outstanding turn in this look at winetasting and middle age. Although Sideways offered some outrageous scenes, it and Giamatti's character were rooted in reality. The scene outside the church is, for me, the best scene in the movies this year. With that scene and the ending it completely wandered outside cinematic convention and offered a little slice of reality that made you feel like you had watched something special.

2. Million Dollar Baby
I knew very little about this when I went into it and as a consequence it came out as my second favourite film of the year. Eastwood, Swank and Freeman were well worth their Oscars. I think most people have left this off their year end lists as Eastwood's near cinematic perfection is common place these days, but this had it all, feel good moments, drama and heartbreak. With every new picture you forget that this was the man who directed The Rookie.

3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer amaze audiences as a perfect on screen duo. Shane Black gets to do exactly what he wants and the result is one of the most entertaining films of the year. Downey Jr's narration is a hoot and the deconstruction of movie cliches makes the whole thing a ride from start to finish.

4. Crash
A film centring on the racial divide in Los Angeles as a collection of characters from different racial and social backgrounds criss-cross and coincidences bring people together and push them apart. There's an excellent cast and although you can pick holes in the story if you so wish it makes for a compelling drama, with plenty of characters that you find yourself rooting for, hating and then rooting for again.

5. Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan and Batman always seemed like a combination that would work and work it did. With every movie Christian Bale gets better and better and Gary Oldman as the future Commisoner Gordon was inspired casting. Darker than the earlier Batman movies and all the better for it.

6. Serenity
As you may have read on previous posts Fraser hotly disagrees with me on this one, but as I had never seen the TV series Firefly I saw it as a stand alone film and I absolutely loved it.

I thought it was a fine romp through space with wisecracking characters and a slightly darker tone than I was expecting.

7. Sin City
I always knew Mickey Rourke still had it in him. Dark, twisted, horrific in parts, gbut brilliant throughout. Three directors and still a first rate film.

8. The Machinist
Christian Bale again in a fascinating performance. It’s shocking how skinny he is and his performance makes you uncomfortable throughout the whole movie. As you should be cos you know it’s going to be bleak.

9. Dig!
A very amusing documentary focusing on The Dandy Warhols and the insanity that is The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Two groups that started off in the same place, but ended up having very different careers.

10. Thumbsucker
A fine overlooked indie film with superb performances all round.

11. Broken Flowers
A lot of people seemed disappointed with the lack of action or resolution from this Bill Murray starring Jim Jarmusch vehicle. Me? I found it a terrific film, with Murray on screen for the whole thing how could I not?

12. Murderball

A no holds barred documentary on quadriplegic rugby and the people who play it. The guys in the film look for no sympathy showing that just cos you’re in a wheelchair it doesn’t mean you can’t be driven, heroic and every bit as much of a dick as anyone else.

This, from Erik Lundegaard on MSNBC Interactive highlights one of the films best moments.

Filmmakers Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro also follow Keith Cavill, recently injured in a daredevil motorcycle accident, as he recovers in a hospital and returns home. In his bedroom and newly modified bathroom, the permanence of his condition sinks in, and he sinks into depression. Until, that is, he meets Mark Zupan, the poster-boy for “Murderball” and one tough little S.O.B. (he’s got something about James Cagney’s energy about him). Between international competitions, Zupan gives a talk to interested quadriplegics and brings along a rugby wheelchair — designed for action and contact and mayhem. Cavill gets into it. They only have one such wheelchair so he can’t slam into anyone else, but the desire is there; you can tell he’s itching to do it. Instead he merely bumps into another wheelchair. Tap tap. Tap tap. In that moment, as Zupan watches with pride in the background, you see a life being reborn.

I saw a few stinkers this year. The most overrated film for me was A History of Violence, yes it’s well made, yes it has a lot of good actors in it, but it’s a story completely told in the trailer and resolved in about 55 minutes. So in order to keep it going, what happens is the story starts all over again. When you need a story to move on one of the worst things you can do is make your characters stupid, which is what this film did. I really can’t understand why so many people thought this was one of the better films of the year.

The other two shockers that come to mind is first of all, Blinded, which is a typical Scottish short film with no story stretched out to a feature length 90 minutes. Secondly Green Street was a laughable look at English football hooliganism through the eyes of an American intellectual Elijah Wood. The silly plot points are too numerous to go into now and although it offered a few decent scenes it was largely just plain daft.

But back to the good films. There are very few, if any comedies on the list and off the top of my head The Wedding Crashers is the one that first comes to mind. Full of likeable stars in Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken it offered an entertaining wee tale, if predictable in places.

Cinderella Man ticks all the right boxes as well. Crowe might be a bit of dick in real life by all accounts but he’s still one of the best actors around. Giamatti gives another great performance and it was nice to see one of my favourite actors Paddy Considine getting a turn in a big picture.

Tuesday 27 December 2005

Top 10 Live Shows of the Year

I thought that this year I would round up the best of the live shows I've attended. I'm going to mix music, comedy and theatre together for this purpose. So here's the list below.

1. The Space You're Not In - Oran Mor - Glasgow - May


Is it cheeky picking a show I was in as number one? Not really when you consider how small my contribution was. TSYNI was referred to by one national newspaper as 'The literary version of Live Aid'. What it was, was an amazing one off event in memory of my friend Gail who died last year. It combined authors, poets, auctioneers and musicians to raise a lot of money for charity.

The night featured John Byrne, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Alasdair Gray, Eddi Reader, Arab Strap and Belle and Sebastian along with many more artists. A bunch of us performed Gail's poems as we had done twice before.

You don't often get to see some of the most revered performers in Scotland take to the stage on after the other. Tom Leonard seemed to be the highlight for a lot of people, though for me it was the auction. Belle and Sebastian premiered four songs from their soon to be released new album, which for the record were, title track The Life Pursuit, Mr. Richard, The Blues are Still Blue and You are a White-Collar Boy.

2. Arcade Fire - Glasgow University Debating Chambers - May

Now everyone's favourite band Arcade Fire were still little known when they made their first visit to Scotland in May. They put in an absolutely astounding show storming through their debut album Funeral. Percusionist Richard Reed-Parry's antics made it practically impossible to take your eyes off him such was the frenetic and unpredictable nature of his performance.

Although an immensely theatrical band the songs can stand on their own, but when you know that every band member is putting everything they've got into each tune you can't fail to be overwhelmed. Hopefully they'll be back here next year, though I fear a bigger venue may be needed.

3. Demetri Martin - These Are Jokes - George Square Theatre - Edinburgh - August

Demetri's Edinburgh Festival show this year was all about the jokes. There can be fewer better with a one liner or non sequitur than the New Yorker. Mixing music with a string of laugh out loud funnies he had the audience lapping him up from his entrance.

Aided by guitar, tambourine, a jangly bracelet, glockenspiel and a flip chart Demetri flew threw an hour of laughs where I was constantly having to force myself to stop laughing so that I wouldn't miss the next laugh that was shortly on the way.

These Are Jokes is a show.
Demetri Martin is the person in this show.
From the stage, he will tell some of his jokes.
He will show some of his drawings.
And he will play some of his musical instruments.
It is all designed to be very good.


4. The Wolf Parade - ABC2 - Glasgow - November

Third on the bill The Wolf Parade turned up late having been held up 'on the M something' carried their gear in, set up and got to rocking. They ran through almost all of their debut album Apologies to the Queen Mary.

A slightly unconventional rock band with two singers and two keyboards they have, for me, one of the most distinctive sounds around. It was good to see them in such an intimate venue as ABC2. Hopefully they'll return to Scotland next year with a full show of their own.

5. Daniel Kitson - The Stand - Glasgow - March

For the Glasgow Comedy Festival Kitson provided three solid hours of funny. A guy who can chat with the crowd and effortlessly make it funny. He only did about ten minutes of material that I had heard at his Edinburgh show the previous August and only ten minutes of this show turned up in the following August's.

For my money he's Britain's best stand-up comedian and more people would realise that if he played the game a bit more. He's not interested in doing a DVD though he has pocketed an advance for one. He shuns big venues in favour of smaller places like The Stand. If you get the chance you should go and see him. I'm looking forward to seeing him again at The Stand in Glasgow in January.

6. Britannia Rules - Theatre 96 - Ramshorn Theatre - Glasgow - February
This is a Liz Lochhead play set in Clydebank at the time of the Second World War. The first act covers the evacuation of a group of children to Argyle in the first months of the war. When we return in the second act we meet the same children now grown up on the day of the Coronation in 1953.

Liz Lochhead's script provides a strong footing and this was a hugely entertaining production by Theatre 96 that had a lot of comedy in it as well as pathos.

7. One Big Laugh - The Three Tuns - Edinburgh - March
Another show that I was a part of. Again though it was the multitude of other acts that made it for me. This was another charity show, this time in aid of Depression Alliance. At first I thought I'd just do my ten minutes and head off, but with the constant rotation of acts there was too much entertainment on offer. My set went over pretty well and whenever you do better than you expect at a gig you tend to want to hang around a bit.

The time I was there was the peak period for this 36 hour event as a large amount of comedians were in the room at the time. In comedy some of the best nights are when you meet people who are clearly living outside the normal limits of mental stability and this was one of those nights. Southside Johnny was hilarious without really saying anything funny. His serious attempts at singing and his stories about how whenevr he did stand-up his Mum always thought it was part of a competition had me and the rest of the room in knots.

It was a jolly occassion and a very ambitious project by Michael McEwan that really seemed to pay off.

8. Desdemona: A play about a Handkerchief - STG - Ramshorn Theatre - Glasgow - May
This was directed by my friend Sara. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel this is a comic deconstruction of Othello. The casting was spot on but the highlight for me was Alison May's hilarious turn as the former scullery maid Amelia.

9. Brendan Benson - Virgin Megastore - Glasgow - July
A free show on Virgin's second floor. I expected a ten minute acoustic thing but instead was treated to a full electric band playing for more than half an hour. He played everything that you could have expected from his back catalogue in the time.

10. The New Pornographers - ABC2 - Glasgow - December
Although there was no Neko Case, TNP rattled through most of latest album Twin Cinema and their back catalogue in fine style. The sound wasn't the best though, but you couldn't fault the band's performance.

Vincent Schiavelli 1948-2005

When most people read the name Vincent Schiavelli they probably wouldn't know who he was, but as soon as you see his face you'll know you've seen him in countless movies. He was patient Frederickson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, science teacher Mr. Vargas in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Nevr Dies.

The 6'5½" tall actor also appeared in a host of American TV shows including Taxi, Moonlighting, Miami Vice, Knots Landing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Family Guy.

Rock Ruins Christmas

Chris Rock has spoiled Christmas for thousands of US youngsters by revealing that Santa Claus doesn't exist.

Monday 26 December 2005

Celtic 2 Livingston 1

So, did everyone have a good Christmas then? 'Pish is back to entertain anyone unlucky or bored enough to be sat at a computer in the days before New Year.

As the headline suggests I went to the Celtic v. Livingston game today. I headed up early to make sure I got a ticket, in the end I think it was a few thousand off a sell-out but I thought I better be sure.

Since I got a digital camera over Christmas I took plenty of photographs and I guess 'Pish readers can expect this for the coming year. Maybe I'll set up another page for photos only or move them onto Flickr, as I guess folk might get bored with tons of photos. Anyway a selection from this afternoon is below.

The ground suffered a power cut at about 2.30 just as the pre match entertainment The O'Sullivan Brothers (aka The Singing Santas) had launched into Dirty Old Town. Man, was I sorry to hear the end of them. Before the power cut, on the big screens they showed highlights of the Inverness CT game from a couple of weeks ago. I never caught what pair of haddies were commentating for Celtic TV but I'm glad the power cut prevented me from hearing any more of their gibbering nonsensical comments. For a while I thought that the game would be abandoned. After numerous uncertain announcements, the power came back on and the game finally kicked off 50 minutes late at ten to four.

But just before that the crowd perked up slightly as new signing Roy Keane took a brief bow. It lasted as long as it took him to walk about 20 yards out onto the pitch, wave and then walk back to the dugout.

The game itself was pretty dire. Livingston seemed to open up at the back whenever Celtic went forward but the home team struggled to make much headway up front. They also lost possession at the back more than was good for them. Kenny Dalglish's son Paul was Livingston's biggest threat but he didn't see enough of the ball in the first half and when he did get it there was little or no support for him.

The Celtic fans quickly got on the backs of the players but they eventually took the lead with a Shaun Maloney penalty. In the second half Celtic continued to look shakey at the back with Bobo Balde in particular failing to control with his first touch and doing a passable impression of a Priest looking for the exit door in a lingerie section whenever he had the ball in his own penalty area. And it was just this uncertainty that led to the Livingston equaliser, with Balde giving the ball away and Dalglish taking his chance to level the scores.

I would struggle to say who deserved to win this one Celtic certainly created more chances, but they looked unconvincing. I was particularly disappointed with eventual matchwinner Shunsuke Nakamura. I was looking for him to take on opponents and to go past defenders, but he seemed to favour a square ball or to play it out to Telfer on the wing. That is to say until the 87th minute when he finally went past a couple of defenders and curled a brilliant shot from outside the box into the net. An excellent goal, though I was slightly perplexed why he was man of the match.

In addition to the home support screaming their displeasure at their players, (Aiden McGeady and Ross Wallace came in for a lot of stick from where I was sitting) it was surprising to see a large number leave with ten minutes or so to go as the score was 1-1 at the time.

I found it an entertaining day, mainly because I don't get to as many games as I would like, but with the ticket price being a hefty £23 I probably won't be making it a regular outing.



Since I was at the ground early I joined the eager crowd awaiting the arrival of the team. This is manager Gordon Strachan going into the ground.


Club captain Neil Lennon makes his way off the bus for a game where he did more moaning at the ref, timewasting and shoving folk than he did bossing the midfield.


"The biggest signing in Celtic's history" Roy Keane arrived on his own a few minutes after the team bus. He spent no time hanging around despite the crowd of fans chanting his name.




The power goes out before the match. It was still daylight at this time, so it didn't cause as much commotion in the ground as it might have. If it had lasted I'm sure the Celtic fans would have been calling for the head of an electrician before too long.


The crowd at the traditional Celtic End, singing along with You'll Never Walk Alone, just before kick-off.


John Hartson lurks outside the six yard box.


Celtic's Japansese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura lines up a free kick.


The Celtic players congratulate Nakamura on his winning goal.

Friday 23 December 2005

Happy Festivus!


Festivus Yes! Bagels No! Today is Festivus, Frank Costanza's alternative holiday. Here's a few stories on it. Order a Festivus pole. Festivus feeling is spreading.

Here’s an informative article on Festivus. A family enjoys Festivus. The Festivus website promoting the book Festivus – The Holiday for the Rest of us. Based on an article I think we linked to this time last year. And finally an article more about the commercialisation of Christmas than Festivus itself.

Chappelle Hoax

The Chappelle Conspiracy website Fizz posted on Saturday has been revealed to be a hoax. It was done by people at anti-social.com. We knew all along, but it was fun while it lasted. Here's their spin-off Bill Cosby site, The Cosby Theory.

Thursday 22 December 2005

Open Neck

One Neck has joined Open Journal in Montreal as a contributing illustrator. Here is the Christmas card he sent them. (He sent it to all of us as well, but it crashed my computer).

Comedy Links

Here’s a piece on Woody Allen from The Herald. I told you, the ‘he’s back to his best’ reviews are slowly starting to trickle in. The Scotsman looks at his career and his leading ladies.

Here’s a feature on Richard Pryor and some of his later live shows.

This article from The Onion’s AV Club looks at six key performances in Richard Pryor’s career, from his stand up to his sketch show to the movies he’s appeared in.

The similarities and contrasts between Richard Pryor and Sarah Silverman are explored here in the New Haven Advocate.

And here’s an article on Ms Silverman’s dirty mouth.

More on Sarah Silverman and her crazy ironic racism from The Jewish Week.

Silverman and Doug Stanhope’s riffs on little people are answered by 3’ 6” comedian Tanyalee Davis.

Larry David Died for our Sins
, so says The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.

Glasgow taxi drivers’ least favourite comedian, Ford Kiernan, talks to The Sunday Herald about his career, telling Martin Scorsese how to do his job and how ‘people overstep the mark all the time.’

The Miracle of Istanbul

The Guardian looks back on Liverpool’s triumphant night in Istanbul back in May.

Milan have been known to reveal T-shirts at full-time bearing a triumphant message, and some responsible Italian commentators believe the reports that the players put on such tops beneath their jerseys at the interval in the European Cup final, with Gennaro Gattuso said to be in a rage about the presumptuousness.

Wednesday 21 December 2005

Comedian of Comedy

Here's a four part interview with comedian Patton Oswalt.

Tuesday 20 December 2005

The Next Glue

I’ve just found this listing for the next You Owe Me Glue show. I didn’t even know how much the tickets were until now.

Yule Owe Me Glue

The You Owe Me Glue crew had our Christmas night out last night at Blackfriars. With half the attendees not drinking it was a more subdued night out than some of the evenings we’ve had in the past. I’m thinking mainly here of the two nights after the shows in July.

What came from the evening was that everyone discovered that Neal wasn’t dingying us all after the summer, Dazza has some unusual studying tips and the January show is now up in the air. Though on the upside of that we’ve got a lead on a gig in Bahrain.

Judd Apatow Interview

This is an interview with Judd Apatow (The Ben Stiller Show, Freaks and Geeks, The 40 Year Old Virgin). It’s a very interesting article going into various aspects of comedy writing. He used to interview comedians and comedy writers for his college radio station.

“When I interviewed Seinfeld, I was grilling him for literally 45 minutes about how to write jokes — and he tells me, in incredible detail, using examples from his act, how he thought of it, how he developed it, what the stages were…. It became a blueprint for how to be a comedian and a comedy writer.”

A Pryor Love

Here’s a really interesting article about Richard Pryor from the New Yorker.

Jack Black in JoBlo

One for Tommy this one, an interview with Jack Black. In it he talks about King Kong, Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny, a film he's working on with Spaced director Edgar Wright and Heat Vision and Jack - The Movie.

A Wake for Chappelle

Here’s a little bit on Dave Chappelle and what Comedy Central plans to do with the 4 episodes worth of sketches they have from him. It appears that they’re planning some sort of wake.

In other Chappelle news, his ex-manager is suing him. This from The Smoking Gun.

More Crossed Cables

You’ll remember from a couple of weeks ago David Cross’s open letter to Larry the Cable Guy. Well he’s received several e-mails about it, some praising him and some are not praising him. He’s been kind enough to share them with us.

Snap

Lou Reed has some photographs on display in an exhibition. However they don’t seem that impressive and if you have a look at the titles, he’s not putting much effort in.

For some better celebrity snaps, you may have seen these before, but here is a selection of Jeff Bridges photographs from filmshoots he’s been on.

Comedy or Tragedy

Woody Allen ponders on whether life is tragic or comic in The Guardian.

Monday 19 December 2005

You Just Punch The Clock, Why Don't You Punch Your Boss?


I have to do a wee post about the unadulterated genius of “Plastic Surgery Disasters” by Dead Kennedys.

Inspired to listen to it again after hearing Jello Biafra’s recent albums with The Melvins, this is a real red letter album for me, probably my favourite of all time.

It is just so fucking ANGRY, dripping with sarcasm, delusional paranoia and conspiracy theory inspired hatred of the hollowed out husk of the American dream.

This is the album for me that secured Biafra’s reputation as a hugely imaginative, evocative and powerful lyricist. For me he is something approaching an American Ray Davis.

Both puncture the idiocy of their respective nations archetypes, but while Davis held some obvious affection for England, Biafra scorn is cast at the listeners like a vial of acid.

Then there’s the rest of a uniquely talented band making a sound unlike any other band before or since.

For all the vitriol, it ends with the beautifully constructed and oddly hopeful “Moon Over Marin”, which deals with the aftermath of nuclear holocaust.

Biafra mentions on his new album that he feels pressured to maintain his reputation as a firebrand social critic in the face of the changing world and his advancing years. While he need not concern himself about his continuing relevance, the reason he feels pressure is albums like this, which set an incredibly high standard at the tail end of the 70s.

Daytime TV

Having been off work sick for a few days last week I watched a fair bit of daytime TV so I thought I would share some of the shows I saw.

First up is The Jeremy Kyle Show. Basically a Trisha style show with an aggressive man in charge of proceedings. You wouldn’t think there’s enough bams to go round both Trisha and this, but you’d be wrong.

He seemed very angry about every problem on the show, which on the days I watched it was Stepfathers not giving a fuck about their kids and teenagers who drink cos they hate their parents cos they can’t get their own way every time. On one of these shows was the most grey, dull, lifeless teenager ever, hooked on booze she was now a reformed character, though still drank a bit and still gave her Dad a hard time, though would still accept his handouts.

“I went off on one there mate because I’m a parent and this kid needs one thing…love.”

While sitting up late at night when I couldn’t get to sleep I had on Eurosport, which turns into a shopping channel at about midnight. This couple were demonstrating the Magic Bullet to their bemused but excited friends. Basically with this mad wee blender you can chop up and/or liquidise practically anything.

They put forward their theories as to how quickly a bar of chocolate, three peppermints and a scoop of ice cream could be turned into a milkshake. Or how long it would take to make an omelette from 3 eggs, an onion and some red cabbage.

It was kind of like Quincy in that their pals were always sceptical that what they were saying was true, then they were so happy when they discovered that yes, you could make a delicious drink from carrots, pineapples and broccoli…and you can’t taste the broccoli. The Magic Bullet only £65.

Back to daytime TV and I found myself quite enjoying The Paul O’Grady Show. He has such a down to earth approach yet still manages to seem quite showbiz. In amongst his guests, his dogs that he sits on his desk and his postbag he usually manages to take part in some activity that makes him look like a clueless fanny.

Daytime TV also includes documentaries on steam engines, Yes Minister and Law and Order.

I also had cough syrup for what must have been the first time in years. It’s funny to think now of when I was little and cough syrup was the worst thing you could imagine tasting. Now after years of drinking alcohol it’s actually quite pleasant.

Ka-ching

I discovered this today. In America Coinstar machines which convert your collected pocket change into cash can now convert it into Amazon gift vouchers. Coinstar charge 8.9 per cent to convert your nickels and dimes into note form, but that charge is waived if you opt to have your coins become credit at Amazon.

Sunday 18 December 2005

Another Arrested Development Update

Here's some Arrested Devlopment news. 'Word around town' has it that Showtime are in talks to take the show on. This article tells us that ABC are also interested and reminds us that Fox still hasn't cancelled the show as yet.

Here are some more theories on what's going to happen and some comments from series creator Mitch Hurwitz. The Miami Herald suggests that an episode that mirrors the current situation is in production.

Here are more suggestions that the show could live on as a podcast.

"I Need to get my Teeth Capped, I'm Going to be Famous"

Here's the Real Kramer providing more true life stories that appeared in episodes of Seinfeld.

Kong

Hello 'Pish readership (Tommy and Nicola and occasionally Ronnie) you may have noticed that I've been away for a few days having been laid low by illness. Well I'm back, I'll do a post about what I've been up to later, but for now I thought I'd provide a quick review of the latest blockbuster.

I saw King Kong at the weekend. There's not an awful lot to say about it. It's probably too long I can say that about it. It ticks all the right boxes, although at some points the special effects take over and it's just like watching someone play a computer game.

The climactic scene was worth it though, Jackson did everything right with it, keeping the story in the original time period and making sure the last scene was shot in daylight to make the most of the special effects.

The real life live cast are all quite good. You can't argue with Naomi Watts for three hours. If you go to see it I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Saturday 17 December 2005

Chapelle-Gate


Here is a pretty ridiculous conspiricy theory about Dave Chapelle's so-called "fall from grace".

Isn't it interesting that these conspiricy guys always claim to have documentry evidence of the "truth" but never seem to be able to produce it and always wish to remain anonymous?

Personally I think he just got sick of the bullshit and will be back when he's ready.

Thursday 15 December 2005

Tom and Tommy Right All Along


I quite often jokingly scoff at Tom and Tommy’s somewhat “fruity” tastes in music, but I have to concede on a couple of bands they have been going on about for a while now, Arcade Fire and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Arcade Fire I just fell in love with after listening to “Funeral” a few times, an album which looks as if it’s going to spend another Xmas topping album of the year lists as folk conveniently forget it came out in 2004.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists I was more resistant to, but I get it now. I think my main bone of contention was that they are a very slick, clever, clever band. A bit smarty pants. But in the end, the quality of the songs on “Shake the Sheets” got to me. Thinking about it the whole XTC / Nick Lowe / Elvis Costello vibe of the band should have been enough for me at the kick off, but hey, I’m glad I persevered.

As for other new stuff on the play-list lately My Morning Jacket’s “Z” is very nice, Neil Young’s “Prairie Wind” is a cracking return to form from an artist who’s been more miss than hit for a while and “Hypnotise” by System of a Down compliments its companion album “Mesmerise” with more acerbic lyrics and histrionic riff meistery.

There's Brave, Then There's Trite Rubbish


Good news for everyone sick to the back teeth of "How Clean Is Your Celebrity Wife Auction" reality garbage.

Channel 4's latest soujourn into the banal, "Space Cadets" is losing viewers faster than Johhny Vegas can say pie supper.

Lets hope these increasingly expensive and silly projects are shelved in future in favour of actual television programmes, you know like comedy and drama.

I'm personally sick of struggling to get writing work while the US and other nations kick our asses in televsion formats we gave to the world.

Tuesday 13 December 2005

Odius Little Nazi Fuck


I used to be an admirer of Paulo Di Canio, a player who plied his trade in the UK for many years. He was skilful and passionate, even if he sometimes lost the rag.

But his outrageous defence of the "Roman" salute he gave Lazio's fascist supporters after Sundays game with left-leaning Livorno is beyond the pale.

He has exposed himself as a Nazi sympathiser, the worst kind of blinkered idiot. It boggles my mind that a philosophy which saw an attempt to exterminate a race and plunged the world into war can be described by even the thickest of morons as being about "standards".

I wish Paulo Di Canio and all who defend him nothing but ill from here on in.

I’m Not Often Given To Hyperbole, But This Is The Best Thing Ever…


Got a few albums lately so I thought I’d share my meaningless opinions on them with you.

Firstly up is “Don’t Breathe What You Can’t See” by Jello Biafra and The Melvins.

Like most of Jello Biafras collaboration albums, this one leaves me craving the insane blend that was the Dead Kennedys; East Bay Ray’s psycho-surf guitar, DH Pelligro’s seat-of-the-pants-drumming and little Klaus Fluoride’s marathon bass lines.

But this is a very presentable record. The Melvins, with their punchy Sabbath meets Hawkwind style, compliment Biafra's scorching sarcasm perfectly.

The problem if you want to be really pedantic is that while Biafra’s lyrics are no less smart and caustic than they usually are, they don’t so much cover old ground as exist in old space. He’s been going at his targets pretty much the same way since 1978.

But then, why else would you buy it? It’s not as if that’s a secret. So, like I say, I’m being very picky. A must for Jello fans, a not-must if he’s not you’re cup of tea.

The same goes for Seig Howdy, a collection of covers, alternate versions and Dead Kennedys re-hashes by the same team. Given my guilty love of all things Alice Cooper, I was particularly jazzed by their cover of “Halo of Flies”.

Moving on.

To Aerial By Kate Bush, another guilty pleasure of mine. A weighty double album and her first since The Red Shoes in 1993, I was a desperate for this to be good.

And it isn’t, it’s magnificent. A life affirming, glorious treat. “Sunset” might be the best song she’s ever written. So if you in any way appreciate Kate, get it, get it, get it.

I have also been listening to the self titled first album of Antony and the Jonstons. And what a treat this is as well. I have the new(ish) album to listen to as well, so I’m also looking forward to that.

It’s not the kind of thing I tend to find myself listening to, but what a voice. Sort of like a slightly less warbley Bryan Ferry but his music lacks the aggression of early Roxy Music (though none of the poise or sophistication) and also thankfully lacks the smug smarm of Ferry’s later work.

Also, as far as I am aware, Antony doesn’t have a bam son liable to storm Parliament any time soon so he can continue to go ferreting.

So there you go, a selection of largely uplifting stuff.

Next on my list is a bunch of stuff recommended by my doom-loving Canadian colleague Graeme, which is far less likely to be pleasant in any way, shape or form.

Monday 12 December 2005

Random Links

This is a review of Jon Stewart’s performance in London last night. Like a lot of reviews on Chortle a slight smugness creeps in, in places.

Here is an article on John Byrne from yesterday’s Sunday Herald.

Wonderful World, Beautiful People


You’re probably all (haha, all…) wondering what I was up to over the weekend, as you’ve been kept pretty much fully up to date with Tom’s busy few days.

It was my wife’s works night out on Friday so I got to hang out with my mother all night which wasn’t a bad as it sounds at all.

The following day I attended the wedding of my friends Yvonne and Declan McMahon, and a very special day it was too.

It’s so gratifying to be genuinely joyful at one of these doos, instead of just waiting for the grub to get served up or the bar to open. It’s also so unusual to care about not one, but both partners at a wedding. I was so proud of them both.

Declan’s brother raised the bar again by delivering a classic best man’s speech in which he related the tale of Dec’s ill fated decision to join his mates on a trip to a Rangers game on a Paisley supporter’s bus.

“Awright Mate? No seen you on the bus before; whit’s your name?”

All my mates from Uni were there and we all got roaringly drunk and had a cracking meal and laugh afterwards. According to my mate Stephen I was “loud and obnoxious.”

I can think of nothing to refute this. In fact I do recall browbeating my mucker Alison’s boyfriend Martin to the point where this was our parting conversation.

ME: “What are Coldplay worse than Martin?”

MARTIN: “Aids and cancer Fizz, aids and cancer.”

ME: “Toofugginrighttheyareeeee…..”

I was asleep 5 mins after getting in the door. Poor Vanora.

"Not the Face! Not the Face!"

This is a piece about Richard Pryor by Mark Evanier a Hollywood writer who worked with him a handful of times. However more amusing is his recollection of the time Pryor met Rod Hull and Emu.

The Guardian publishes an edited transcript of a 1975 Saturday Night Live appearance.

From Newsweek.

"Richard Pryor was the Picasso of our profession," says Jerry Seinfeld.

"His very presence gave black people a chance to laugh and feel good about stuff that usually pissed us off," says Chris Rock.

Sunday 11 December 2005

The Last Night

After getting the first night of the Christmas 'radio plays' done, I kept forgetting that we had to do it all again the following night. Saturday night saw a practically sold out audience all of whom seemed quite happy with it.

The performance seemed to go much quicker and I felt I gave a slightly better performance, even although I was suffering from a slight cough.

It was surprising the number of people who came up to me afterwards to tell me how good I was or how I should have been doing a bigger character. As I had only a handful of lines I found people singling me out for praise a bit odd. But there was an awful lot of back slapping all round.

I also had several folk asking about the next You Owe Me Glue, telling me how funny it is and at least one actress asking if she could be in it.

I'm still feeling a bit tender after the after-show party.

Richard Pryor 1940-2005

What you'll no doubt read in all the tributes to Richard Pryor is that he was the greatest stand-up of all time. He certainly blazed a trail for a generation of truth telling stand-ups and guys like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle will certainly acknowledge their debt to him.

I enjoyed Richard Pryor as a stand-up, but I first encountered him as an actor in the early days of video recorders. Some of the earliest videos I rented must have been Stir Crazy and a film I still insist was hilarious Superman III.

Pryor was one of the first guys to put his dark personal life at the forefront of his stand-up and his 1982 Live on the Sunset Strip will always go down as the definite film of a stand-up concert.

His death comes as no great shock as he had been ill with MS for 20 years and had deteriorated rapidly in the last few years. His website was adorned with the phrase "I Ain't Dead Yet, Muther Fucka!"

From The Observer. Even when he was in poor health with MS, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, comedy remained a lifeline. During one performance in the early Nineties, he asked: 'Is there a doctor in the audience?' All he got was nervous laughter so he added: 'No, I'm serious. I want to know if there's a doctor here.'

A hand finally went up. 'Doctor,' Pryor said, 'I need to know one thing. What the fuck is MS?'


Here's some tributes from the likes of Steve Martin and Bob Newhart.

This is his wife talking about him.

Here's Lenny Henry's tribute.

On this CNN page, you can see video interviews with him and his career in photographs.

Here's his obituary from the BBC.

Here's some of the things fellow comedians have said about him, taken from his website.

"Richard Pryor is an alchemist who can turn the darkest pain into the deepest comedy. [He] doesn't go for the jugular — he goes straight for the aorta."
-- Robin Williams

"To fully appreciate the power of Richard Pryor as a stand-up comedian, you had to follow him at the Comedy Store. I did once, and I'm lucky to be alive."
-- David Letterman

"Richard Pryor is truly one of the great artists of our time. His comic genius and influence remain unparalleled."
-- Eddie Murphy

"Richard Pryor is the greatest stand-up who ever lived. He opened the biggest door and turned the light on in the room."
-- Roseanne

"Richard Pryor is the King. He always will be."
-- Bernie Mac

"Richard Pryor is the greatest comedian of all time."
-- Chris Rock

"You changed the world... for everyone in it."
-- Mos Def


You can listen to some mp3s of his work at his website.

Saturday 10 December 2005

One Neck Interview

More from everyone's favourite cartoonist One Neck as he's interviewed over on Clamnuts. He takes the time to namecheck 'Pish. And Tommy (twice).

Be careful if you're reading at work, cos the cartoon that illustrates the interview is, although one of his finest, a bit office unfriendly.

No Rock at Oscars

One of Talking Pish's favourite comedians Chris Rock, has not been asked to return to host next year's Oscars.

JSTO - Equity Complain About Censorship

In the latest in the Jerry Springer The Opera DVD debacle actors' union Equity have urged their members to show their displeasure with Woolworths and Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's are claiming that the DVD suffered from 'very poor sales figures' and as such they were intending to pull it anyway, but removed it earlier than planned due to 'a high number of contacts from unhappy customers'.

There's a Lot of Complaining

Here's a feature with Larry David and Ricky Gervais chatting about their comedy, a precursor to a televised chat in January.

First Night

The Christmas Radio Plays opened last night and seemed to be quite successful. A Christmas Carol was the first of the two plays on. We had a decent sized audience in and it went by without a problem. For my part I covered my lines decently, even making the most of my 'silent' part.

The girls, Sharon and Amy, both had a range of perfect Cockney and RP accents, but my favourite was Neal's timid turn as Tiny Tim.

As for thew other play It's a Wonderful Life, James followed up his booming Scrooge with a fine Clarence the apprentice angel and Charneh, just like last year delivered a brilliant 40s radio starlet performance.

Everyone seemed quite happy with it afterwards and I even managed to punt two You Owe Me Glue DVDs to a couple of adoring fans(!)

Friday 9 December 2005

Urban Jr @ Bar Bloc


Ok, so everyone knows all about Urban Jr eh? No need to fill you in. What? You don’t? Ok then.

Signed to Fistfucker Records (he he), Jr is Swiss and sounds sort of like a cross between The White Stripes and Beck. His set up is a mini bass and snare drum which he plays with his feet, an acoustic guitar fuzzed up through an amp and a megaphone instead of a mike.

He sounds…..pretty terrific actually. His performance last night was fully of raw enthusiasm, spiky, throw-away riffing and infantile open mouthed rawking the likes of which I hadn’t seen for some considerable time.

He was aided by a small but vigorous crowd several of whom chanted “fist fuck” until Jr himself joined in.

Some nights the amount you have drunk and what is happening around you doesn’t correlate. It makes you feel woozy.

But sometimes what is happening meshes perfectly with exactly how drunk you are and then, you hardly feel drunk at all, you just feel good. Last night was one of the good nights. Jr provided an ass-kicking soundtrack to a fun evening.

Speaking to him after the show I asked him where he was playing next.

“Somewhere in Edinburgh.” He said

“Edinburgh? Pah, they won’t rock like we rocked tonight.” I said.

No shit they won’t.

Dead Ball

Here’s an interesting wee feature on AC Milan’s Andrea Pirlo and his new technique for taking free kicks.

Arrested Development's Family Ties

In the latest Arrested Development news Jason Bateman’s sister Justine (of Family Ties fame) is currently filming episodes where she appears as Michael Bluth’s ‘sister’.

There are a couple of potential spoilers in the fifth paragraph though. Some good news tucked away at the end.

And in other AD related news here is another update on the Fake David Cross saga.

Murray/McLeish Fiasco


Here's my take on the desperatly dissapointing news from Ibrox last night. I posted this on the Rangers BBC forum this morning.

Lets get a few things straight. I will obviously continue to support the club the chairman and with great reluctance, the manager.

But there are a lot of fans on this forum with their heads in the sand.

Yesterday was a black day for the club. The lifeblood of the club, the fans have been deliberately misled by the chairman. Mr Murray has tried to give the impression that no-one was being lined up for the managers job. This is plainly not the case. Paul Le Guen WAS approached. Our current manager is not the first choice of the supporters and not the first choice of the chairman either. Mr Murray is trying to cover up for the fact that he failed to deliver the appointment most of us wanted.

As distressing as that is, we also have had to put up with mealy mouthed rubbish about how he’s re-structuring the clubs finances so we don’t have to rely on European qualification (just as well eh?) and that fans should expect less domestically if we’re doing well in Europe.

Mr Murray also admitted that our performances haven’t improved domestically. This was the criteria by which we were told McLeish would be judged. Instead, we are expected to swallow that a “gutsy” showing against a half-interested Inter Milan team (which coincided with Artmedia failing to score in their match purely because of the state of their pitch) was the upturn in performance quality that saved McLeish.

Who is he trying to kid with this? Everybody knows McLeish would be history if a decent replacement was available. So why not tell the truth? It’s perfectly acceptable to me that McLeish stays in these circumstances. If all we were going to do was trade him for a Burley or a Butcher, the move would be pointless. But Mr Murray wants to pretend that keeping McLeish was his decision; that it wasn’t made for him by PLG refusing his job offer.

And the bottom line is that we go to Rugby Park this weekend with a rotten team, a dud manager and every chance of losing.

And just a word for the posters who are calling disappointed Rangers fans glory hunters. Our club is in very serious trouble. Recognising this fact and voicing your concern does not make you disloyal. I’m not calling for Murray to go or even for McLeish to go. What’s the point? All I’m asking for is to be treated like an adult by the chairman of my club. All I’m asking for is the unvarnished truth.

Arcade Fire Up For Grammys

Arcade Fire have been nominated for two Grammy awards. An award frequently rubbished in The Simpsons.

They have nabbed nominations for ‘Funeral’ as Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental) and for ‘Cold Wind’ as Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. Although that last one seems like a tacked on made up category. Cos with 108 categories including Best Album Notes, you really don’t want to miss one.

In the album category they are up against Beck, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab For Cutie with their latest album Plans, which is currently in my CD player.

Chris Rock’s Never Scared is up for Best Comedy album and former Carry On star Jim Dale picks up a nomination with Best Spoken Word Album for Children.

Should you wish to wade through all the nominations you can.

"I Found a Snake..."

Here’s an interview with man of the moment Paul Gascoigne. This was conducted before he left Kettering this week.

Final Rehearsal

Last night was the final rehearsal for A Christmas Carol. To be honest the hardest part for me was having to be on my feet for an hour and a half.

We were in the theatre in order to run it with lights and sound effects. One of my four characters has no lines. How does he speak? Terrible! The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come says nothing, but has to be 'at the mike' for about 5 minutes, so I have to improvise a series of moans.

Other than that the biggest challenge is following along with the script while not looking detached from the whole thing. We're onstage the whole time, so we have to not look like we're just reading along when we have no lines.

Thursday 8 December 2005

Jerry Springer the Opera on DVD Update

It seems that I’m not the only person incensed by Woolworths and Sainsbury’s decisions to stop selling Jerry Springer the Opera.

Over at Mediawatchwatch they are thinking about how best to protest against the decisions.

Several people have e-mailed both chains complaining, of course with these folk writing a personal letter very rarely warrants a personal reply and it seems everyone has had the same standard reply. You can see them on the link.

So far no one there has seen my angle of using this as a chance to get things you don’t like removed from sale. Like Jim Davidson. Also I really hate sprouts. Are there nine other people who also hate sprouts? Perhaps Sainsbury’s might stop selling sprouts if we contact them.

Although everyone is accepting this as the work of Christian Voice, they don’t appear to be taking any credit for it. Or maybe they’re too busy getting stuff banned to update their website.

A, B and C.

There's a good article in today's Guardian by the theatre critic Michael Billington on Harold Pinter's Nobel lecture yesterday.

Here is the complete text of his lecture that touches on his work but mainly centres on US foreign policy and Britain's eagerness to tag along.

Le Memo

When Talking Pish/You Owe Me Glue’s favourite cartoonist One Neck was just plain old Iain Laurie he worked in an office. Some fool in there asked him to produce the weekly memo for his department. This was a task he kept up for some months until one day one of the low to medium head honchos decided that his memos had become too risqué.

However as an avid collector of such memos, I now reprint a handful of the best ones. The three featured here are all from the early days of ‘le memo’ before it became more Laurie less company. Click on the pictures to get a larger readable version.





D Day For McLeish?


Rangers became the first Scottish side to qualify from the group stages of the Champions League on Tuesday night but it still won’t be enough to save Rangers manager Alex McLeish from losing his job. Most commentators expect an announcement sometime today.

Speculation has been insane over the last few weeks as to what is about to happen with some saying McLeish may stay in a reduced capacity and others saying he will be replaced by French managerial wunderkind Paul Le Guen.

So why the clamour to replace one of Scotland’s all-time most successful managers?

Well, Rangers currently lie 5th in the league, 17 points behind leaders Celtic and they face a difficult away trip to Kilmarnock on Saturday. Defeat there will see the Scottish champions fall 5 points behind 4rth, making it all but impossible to qualify for ANY European competition next season.

While that humiliation is unacceptable for the fans, the cold, hard financial reality is that Rangers cannot afford a season without European income. Failure to qualify for the Champions League next year could cost the club £10m. Failure to qualify for the UEFA Cup could cost something like £5-8m.

By putting together officially the worst team in Rangers history (The team are currently on their worst winless streak of all time, and as one of the world’s oldest clubs, that’s going some), McLeish has effectively undone all his many good works.

So, a man who has taken only 4 years to win 2 Championships, 3 League Cups, 2 Scottish Cups and has become manager of the first ever Scottish side to reach the last 16 of the Champions League should lose his job today.

And what’s more, he will leave reviled by the majority of Rangers fans, thanks to the terrible football the team have played under him and their utter failure to consistently beat Celtic under his stewardship.

And they say football is all about results.

Wednesday 7 December 2005

The Judgment of Almighty God

Will these fuckers never go away? Stewart Lee attempted to discuss Jerry Springer the Opera with folk in Aberdeen, but of course got shouted down by the bams protesting him.

I also can’t believe that Sainsbury’s and Woolworths have refused to stock Jerry Springer the Opera DVD because of customer complaints, in Sainsbury’s case a mere ten. The campaign starts here and now for another 8 people to join us at Pish to request the removal of Jim Davidson’s latest DVD from their shelves (though I’ll need to double check that it’s actually there at the moment). I’m serious folks, if 10 complaints are all it takes, what’s stopping us?

What gets me is not just the over the top ‘this is how the Nazis started’ reaction, it’s the fact that so many of these protestors are ill informed and haven’t even bothered to learn about the thing they hate so much.

So in the comments section please who’s with me? Let’s get rid of Jim Davidson from the shelves. It takes but ten names (so it would seem)!

The New Pornographers @ ABC2

Last night me and pretty much all of the ‘Pish readership (Tommy and Nicola) went to see The New Pornographers at ABC2. Surprisingly we were there in time to see the two support bands as well.

First up were Glasgow’s Music and Movement. They were awful, tuneless rubbish. The girl singer seemed at a loss for what to do most of the time and couldn’t even really work her tambourine. The best thing they did was a 5 minute outro that just seemed like a jam in the rehearsal studio.

The main support, Your Black Star, were more accomplished but probably less interesting. Their set mainly passed me by.

It was slightly disappointed that Neko Case wasn’t playing with TNP. She has a new solo album out in a few months and she seems to be playing solo shows at the moment. However her replacement Kathryn Calder of Immaculate Machine filled in quite ably.

They kicked off with Twin Cinema and battered through most of that album. The sound wasn’t all that great with feedback punctuating all the way through Use It. However they soldiered on and provided an entertaining hour or so.

The highlights for me were Slow Descent into Alcoholism, Bleeding Heart Show, Letter From an Occupant and their second encore when they wandered back onstage after all the lights and the mix tape had gone back on. After shouting down a lot of audience requests they finished with The Body Says No and From Blown Speakers.

On the whole they were really entertaining and played everything I would have expected, but I felt perhaps the sound in the venue curbed my enjoyment a wee bit. They maybe have too big a sound for such a small room.

In addition to my two below, here’s another couple of photographs from the show.


Tuesday 6 December 2005

I'll Match your un-P.C.ness any Day of the Week

Here’s David Cross writing an open letter to Larry the Cable Guy, who had hit back at an earlier Cross pisstake of him.

AD and Other Sitcoms

Here’s an article on the brilliance of Arrested Development and suggesting, Let's unite together in spirit against the killing of "Arrested Development".

And this is an article on the handful of good sitcoms that are currently screening on US TV. Scrubs, My Name is Earl, AD and The Office.

And here's news that NBC are shuffling their comedy line up and benching Joey.

The Fictional 15 Richest

Forbes Magazine have compiled their list of The 15 Richest Fictional Characters. For any children reading this, please ignore the number one spot.

Chappelle Season Three?

Here’s the latest news on what Comedy Central are planning to do with the recorded material for season three of Chappelle’s Show.

Monday 5 December 2005

Giant Drag

To follow on from the last post, here's another band with some Pixies/Breeders influences. Giant Drag are a boy/girl duo from Los Angeles and offer up some melodic rock. You can download a couple of mp3s here. Or you can try their MySpace page.

Blood On The Wall

If you like The Pixies then you might like this lot, Blood On The Wall a 3 piece band from New York. Similarities to The Pixies is the most obvious thing that stands out when you hear them. You can hear some mp3s at this page.

A Christmas Rehearsal

We had another rehearsal for A Christmas Carol yesterday. We only made it through less than half the script. I don't think it will be too much of a problem though, James who plays Scrooge carries the whole thing. He did it last year as well and he does it quite effortlessly.

As for me, I think in total I have about 14 lines. It's difficult to get really into it, when you appear so infrequently. And that's 14 lines across 4 different characters, one of whom doesn't say anything.

There are only two more rehearsals left, one of which I can't attend. I'm sure it'll all go swimmingly though.

Here's the poster for the show. There was also a feature in the previews section of The Sunday Herald yesterday.

Sunday 4 December 2005

Metro Lag Behind 'Pish

See how on the ball we at 'Pish are? This article was in The Metro on Friday. A story about young bikers going off the roof of the Buchanan Street underground. You may remember that we had this story, complete with photos on 16th October.

Who'd have thought it, Talking Pish - the news source.

"It’s Nice of You..."

If you like The Ramones you may enjoy this. Here's an interview with the last surviving Ramone, Tommy. The best response to a question is the last one.

Friday 2 December 2005

Development Developments

Here’s an interview with Alia Shawkat who plays Maeybe on Arrested Development. In it she provides her take on the uncertainty over whether the show has been cancelled or not.

E Online has this and not very much else. It’s optimistic, but there’s not an awful lot to go on.

HOPEFUL DEVELOPMENT? Executive producer Brian Grazer telling CNN Headline News' Showbiz Tonight he's in talks with other networks about picking up Arrested Development after Fox axed the offbeat Emmy-winning comedy from its schedule.

And in AD related news this is on Comedy Central’s roster of new pilots.

* "Freak Show," an animated series from David Cross and Jon Benjamin ("Dr. Katz," "Home Movies") about a group of sideshow performers -- including a pair of Siamese twins, the World's Tallest Nebraskan and The Bearded Clam -- who are also B-list superheroes. When a crisis is too small for the Justice Squad, they step in.

And here's an interesting article about Henry Winkler, AD's Barry Zukerkorn. He has authored a series of comic books about his childhood and interesting fact, his stepson is Morrissey's manager.

I Respect You Zero. See Ya at the Upfronts, Bitch!

This may well show the perils of working in television. I stumbled up on this exchange of e-mails from 2001 between Judd Apatow executive producer on The Ben Stiller Show and Freaks and Geeks and Mark Brazill creator of That 70s Show.

Always Smart and Very Unpredictable

Iain (One Neck) just excitedly sent me this news.

Thursday 1 December 2005

"Suppose I Wanted Noam Chomsky Explained to me by Two Girls?"

Back on Woody Allen and his birthday, here's a link to a great short story that he wrote for the New Yorker, called The Whore of Mensa, which later appeared in his book collection Without Feathers.

Finally here's another extensive blog entry in honour of his 70th birthday.

A Higher Level of Raunch

Well, we never got round to doing anything for Richard Pryor’s 65th birthday.

It seems that his birthday isn’t reason enough to prompt anyone to write anything about him for me to link to.

But his name does crop up in this article about Sarah Silverman’s film Jesus is Magic. The gist being that there's a buzz around it because it's deemed offensive.

I could think up an excuse every day to post a picture of this woman.

And here's another feature on the film.

A Christmas Radio Play

Some ‘Pish readers might remember that at Christmas last year I was in a ‘radio play.’ Well it’s that time of year again folks. Rehearsals started last night. This time I’m appearing in A Christmas Carol.

I don’t really have that much of an exciting role to tell you about. It’s really a batch of bit part characters. The biggest part (after Scrooge) has been given to a guy who didn’t respond to the director’s initial e-mail and who didn’t turn up last night.

There’s only a few more rehearsals before the show itself, which is Friday and Saturday 9 & 10 December. It’s playing alongside It’s a Wonderful Life.