Month: January 2007

over heard in the office today…. “Piss off Mike, your Jedi mind tricks are shit“.

Made me laugh.

Holy Dooley ! I’m about to buy a flat… Georgeous 2 bed place with a lovely sunny garden. If all goes to plan I should be all moved in in 6 or so weeks… Watch this space.

Starz In Their Eyes

I really like Starz In Their Eyes by Just Jack. It’s catchy, clever and actually says something….

They’ll be making sure you stay amused
They’ll fill you up with drugs and booze
Maybe you’ll make the evening news

And when you’re tripping over your dreams
They’ll keep you down by any means
and by the end of the night you’ll be stifling your screams

Since you became a VIPerson
It’s like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know

And they’ll just put you in the spotlight
And hope that you’ll do alright
Or maybe not

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes?

Remember they said you’d show them all
Emphasise the rise but not the fall
And now you’re playing a shopping mall

Your mum and dad they can’t believe
What you appear to have achieved
While the rest of these users are just laughing in their sleeves

Since you became a VIPerson
It’s like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know

And now the tabloids use your face
To document your fall from grace
And then they’ll tell you that that’s just the way it goes
That’s just the way it goes

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It’s the same old story well they just didn’t realise
And it’s a long way to come from the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night’s drunken dreams

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It’s the same old story well they just didn’t realise
And it’s a long way to come from your private bedroom dance routines
And Saturday night’s drunken dreams

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes?

Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It’s the same old story well they just didn’t realise
And it’s a long way to come from the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night’s drunken dreams

This Life + 10

This Life came back to our screens last night, 10 years on.

It was OK, but not quite as good as I was hoping.

The great thing about the first series was its freshness. The series showed people as they were. Rather than as they were imagined by screenwriters, novelists and ad-men.

This Life was new and compelling because it avoided the tired clichés of twenty-something drama. This Life wasn’t Friends.

The exploits of Miles, Milly, Egg, Warren and Anna were compulsive viewing in the 90s. The realistic storylines, much copied camcorder style, sex, swearing and drugs were refreshing.

I loved it then and tuned in with anticipation to see how the central characters had fared 10 years on.

Egg, now a famous novelist, has written a book loosely based on his old housemates and they all came together at Miles’ mansion for a weekend reunion. The twist is the reunion is filmed as part of a fly-on-the-wall style film to accompany Egg’s new novel.

Egg married Milly and they have a young son. Milly is now a full time mum. Their circumstances, and Egg’s success, is causing inevitable tension. They represent the young married couple. A few years in and still coming to terms with the arrival of their first child. The awesome realisation that marriage is for life is still playing out between them.

Anna, headstrong and chain-smoking as ever, is unmarried and looking for a man. On the surface, she rejects the cosy certainties of wedlock and is almost scornful of Egg and Milly’s married life. However, below the surface, she wants a relationship and children.

I was disappointed by the depiction of Warren. He was surrounded by stereotypically negative gay themes like death, drugs, dependency, suicide and weakness.

The episode opens with a funeral. Ferdy’s funeral. Although how Ferdy died is unclear, by not explaining his death, the audience is left to infer AIDS.

Warren comes across as a pill popping, herbal remedy dependent, indecisive weakling. At one point he awkwardly asks Miles for money and is flatly rejected. This compounds his character’s sense of dependency, insecurity and failure.

Set against Ferdy’s recent death, Warren comes across as a tragic figure. At one point, Warren is seen gorging on his new age pills and old friends find him comatose, believing he has committed suicide. The scriptwriters could have done so much with a gay lawyer. But, sadly, they reached for stereotype, cliché and caricature.

Miles is rich, having made a fortune from a successful business career. He lives in a huge country house with a beautiful wife. However, all is not what it seems when the bailiffs suddenly arrive to repossess his furniture. His wealth is illusion. His success a sham. Debt defines Miles. Not wealth.

The episode ended with Anna proposing to Warren to father her child and Miles walking off into the unknown to travel and find himself.

The main themes seem to be uncertainty and doubt.

Is married life for Egg ?

Will Milly go back to her legal career ?

Will/can Anna settle down ?

WIll Warren sort himself out ?

Will Miles ever stop being a bastard ?