The Buffy Wrap Party
Courtesy of a Millarworld thread on the subject of Buffy and Angel, I found a link to some photos from the Buffy wrap party.
Warning - it's a long page with some *big* photos on it - depending on your connection, it could take a while.
Misheard
So I mentioned this evening that Matthew Perry is guest-starring in the episode of The West Wing that premieres in the U.S. tomorrow. And I got this stunned look which seemed inexplicable to me until I realised that what had actually been heard was "Matthew Kelly is guest-starring in The West Wing tomorrow."
That Political Drama
As I haven't talked about The West Wing in, ooh, it must be almost two weeks, I thought it was time. (Minor spoilers ahead.)
I was avoiding comment because I was feeling rather unhappy with the plot - but now, looking back at the arc represented by Bartlet For America, H.Con - 172 and 100,000 Airplanes, I have a slightly better perspective on it.
At the time of the first of these three episodes, I thought that Sorkin had painted himself into a pretty nasty corner. The flashbacks to the campaign seemed to damage the Bartlet credibility uncompromisingly and in a way that made it difficult to see past - the scene where Jed and Abby tell Hoynes about the MS in particular made them seem to be exactly the manipulative and devious pair that they were being painted by their enemies. Then in H.Con - 172 the rabbit was pulled out of the hat with Bartlet's insistence that he should accept censure, not just to spare Leo, but also because he knew he'd done something wrong. That "No one takes responsibility anymore" speech was great precisely because it's what so many people think of politicians anyway. It's perhaps a little convenient in plot terms, but it's not out of keeping with the previously-established character.
And so to last night's Channel 4 episode, 100,000 Airplanes - The State Of The Union is an annual West Wing feature (obviously), and this one couldn't possibly have been more useful to the series. I've remarked before how at the time the first half of Season Three was originally mapped out (pre 11th September 2001), the world was a very different place than it was by the time the episodes were broadcast. It clearly took a while to re-orientate everything to focus away from the MS disclosure plot and onto something meatier and less clearly partisan, to match the feeling of the US public at the time. The State Of The Union provides, I think, the pivot point for the season. It's a way of taking the focus off Bartlet The Man, where it's been for a while, and onto Bartlet The President, and brilliantly, it's a way of doing so both in the series' narrative, as referenced during the episode, and also for the viewer. "We're done with dwelling on that now," seems to be the message, "here's the bigger picture."
Neatly done - once again, I own that I'm impressed.
A Perfect Fit
When I set up the categories for posts here that I mention occasionally, I set up one that gets the odd use, but not very much - 'Just Plain Weird'. I thought it might come in handy for those odd links that one occasionally finds or is pointed towards.
Tonight, I offer, for your delectation and delight, the site for which the 'Just Plain Weird' category may very well have been created: Boobah Zone.
Well That Was Quick
Just before I crashed last night I heard a news item about an art theft from the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, which is a very good gallery, by the way, should you ever find yourself with some free time in that part of town.
Anyway - as of about twenty minutes ago, the BBC are reporting that the three most significant of the stolen items have been retrieved from behind a public toilet. Lovely.
Travelled Man
What a great weekend.
Chris, Alison and I set off yesterday morning for the South coast. We were aiming for Bournemouth as a starting point, slightly worried about the weather forcast that said it was going to chuck down. In the event, apart from a brief shower late yesterday evening, the weather couldn't have been nicer. In fact, my head's a bit red solely on the basis of sitting out in the sun for lunch yesterday and walking on some beaches today.
Bournemouth gets a bit of a bad rep for being one big old folks' home, and while I'm sure there are any number of OAPs there, it was also full of a very wide range of people. We walked along the seafront and took the cliff lift up to walk down through the town centre, lunched, shopped, walked, crashed for a bit then headed out for some drinks and food. And here's where two contrasting facets of the Bournemouth Saturday evening come out. The town has a thriving gay scene, which we dipped into, and very friendly it is too. Also very mixed - again there were all ages and both genders mixing very happily together. At the other end of the scale, we wondered why everywhere we went past seemed to have bouncers, not just the gay places, bars, restaurants, everywhere. And then we realised. The reason is that the whole town had been overrun by stag and hen dos. Everywhere we turned some new group of themed outfits were passing by - on every street corner some hapless groom was being ridiculed in drag. It's a weird juxtaposition.
But again with the friendly. Even down to the police officers saying "Evening" in passing.
Today we set off along the Dorset coast, explored around Poole Harbour, and took the ferry over to Swanage before turning inland to visit Corfe Castle, which presents quite the view. After all that we were all knackered, but managed to fit in a stop at Arundel along the way home.
Excellent trip.
And now I'm knackered. I know I should have done some linking to relevant info along the way here, but I'm just too tired. Maybe tomorrow. G'night.
Travellin’ Man
Gosh - I don't get out of South East London for weeks and weeks, and suddenly I'm planning multiple excursions.
Heading down to the south coast tomorrow - though I gather the weather's going to be crap. We may stay over if a suitable opportunity arises.
And the week after next I'm going to Italy for the week! It's all a bit last minute, but it has several advantages - the primary one being: It's going to be cheap as I don't have to pay for accomodation or travel.
So there you go. I'm travellin' man.
X2 Reviews
I notice that they're starting to hit.
The Guardian doesn't rate it very much.
Empire rates it very highly.
Harsh But Fair
"Flying with Ryanair is a geography lesson. They go to places you can't spell and have never heard of, and certainly don't bear any resemblance to the destination advertised."
I've commented before on the propensity for Ryanair flights I've taken not to land in the city most prominently advertised (Lübeck, not Hamburg, or Forli not Bologna, for instance), but this is Easyjet having a go. The Guardian reports that the Ryanair Easter seat sale turned out to be a bit of a flop.
Who On Earth Lives In Leamington Spa?
So, I'm just settling down to dinner when my phone rings - the number is one that I don't recognise at all, so I leave it to go onto the voicemail. When I check after eating, however, whoever it is hasn't left a message. Doing a quick check on the area code, I find that my caller is in Leamington Spa (No, I didn't know either - it's in Warwickshire, apparently.)
Intrigued by this, and with the recognition that the countless market research and sales calls I get invariably withhold their number, I call the caller back. A woman answers, and I explain what happened. She insists that I must have the wrong number (which I didn't, as I subsequently checked), as she hasn't called me. "Is it possible you misdialled and got me when you were calling someone else?" I ask, not unreasonably.
At which point she says that no, it's not; she hasn't called anyone at all since whe got home two hours ago, and there's no one else in the house who could have done so either. Goodbye.
So now I'm *very* intrigued.