well, we love the Aga Saga woman.
(along with with Pru and Trude, we're surrounded by 'em)
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
tv 9 to nought
Continuing my random tv countdown begun here
9: I'm over the treechange/seachange dramas where jaded city souls are healed by rolling hills and bucolic quirk. I'm still waiting for the obvious: treechangers find life in the country much the same as before, or sometimes a bit dreary unless they do sport. Not accepted by locals for at least 25 years, which is of course outside the time frame of most TV shows. Until then cityblowins may be loitering with intent to mine their experience for story lines for a future ABC drama series.
Diver Dan the bottomless pit
8. But I did enjoy the rural view in Love's Harvest
7. OMG. I watch Ladette to Lady. (It was on the ABC first, y'know.) Can't say why this staged piece of realityshite appeals. Catchy theme? Memories of schooldays and unresolved issues with Home Economics?
6. Lines from my latest Google Poem compilation:
5. and I'm just about over football. Culture. I'm over the wisecracking.
Football analysis should be earnest, like Talking Footy and Football inquest .
(A childhood staple. An enduring memory of host Mike Williamson biting into an Arnott's Teddy Bear biscuit between bouts of inquest. Or maybe it was Butternut Snap - the presence of Teddy Whitten may have confused me.)
Football should be earnest.
(well, if it has to be Entertainment it could at least aspire to be Drama/Crime Thriller and not a telethon.)
4. Meanwhile newbiscuit has the dirt on Grand Designs
3. ThatArmstrong Miller Flanders and Swann Show
(My companions found the A-M scatological take on F&S amusing, but I sat "po-faced" throughout)
update - po-faced out of a sense of nostalgic loyalty to F&S, one of my father's favourites, and who I loved listening to.
2. (It was disturbing to watch the Armstrong Miller Dentist sketches on the eve of dental appointments. (an inappropriate dentist, who treats his captive audience to tales of the state of his dog's prostate and swinger parties *).
Luckily my Dentist favours Foxtel over Confessional. Although, as I noted in a recent comment, I didn't find Life After Humans a particularly relaxing progam to watch in that position.)
1. Humans are Dead?
Flight Of The Conchords was heralded by os blogs I like, and I was not dusapointid.
9: I'm over the treechange/seachange dramas where jaded city souls are healed by rolling hills and bucolic quirk. I'm still waiting for the obvious: treechangers find life in the country much the same as before, or sometimes a bit dreary unless they do sport. Not accepted by locals for at least 25 years, which is of course outside the time frame of most TV shows. Until then cityblowins may be loitering with intent to mine their experience for story lines for a future ABC drama series.
Diver Dan the bottomless pit
8. But I did enjoy the rural view in Love's Harvest
The beauty and serenity of rural life is jolted regularly by the reality of hard work and uncertaintyFunny how this review can get it so wrong:
Victoria and Gilles seem like a nice enough couple but there's not a lot going on here. It's like watching a well-produced home movie - sweet, but of little interest if you're not part of the family smhnot a lot going on here? It's all in the beautifully observed detail. These 'home movies' are telling universal tales.
7. OMG. I watch Ladette to Lady. (It was on the ABC first, y'know.) Can't say why this staged piece of realityshite appeals. Catchy theme? Memories of schooldays and unresolved issues with Home Economics?
6. Lines from my latest Google Poem compilation:
a retired Australian rules football
jock Sam Newman manhandled the doll
full version
5. and I'm just about over football. Culture. I'm over the wisecracking.
Football analysis should be earnest, like Talking Footy and Football inquest .
(A childhood staple. An enduring memory of host Mike Williamson biting into an Arnott's Teddy Bear biscuit between bouts of inquest. Or maybe it was Butternut Snap - the presence of Teddy Whitten may have confused me.)
Football should be earnest.
(well, if it has to be Entertainment it could at least aspire to be Drama/Crime Thriller and not a telethon.)
4. Meanwhile newbiscuit has the dirt on Grand Designs
‘Every time you were trying to dig foundations or pour cement, this posh bloke kept getting in the way going on and on about the bloody ‘integrity of the materials to the natural setting’ or some other bollocks. One of the lads threatened to deck him, but he just turned to camera and said something about tensions beginning to show on this high-profile and controversial project.’See also Sustainability Blog on Grand Designs Craziness
where people you inevitably become irritated with try to rebuild a Middle Aged church tower/divert a river and create a pastiche castle/dig a massive £300,000 hole and then plonk a German prefabricated modernist house in the middle of it. On a hill in Bath. With traditional stone cladding.
3. That
(My companions found the A-M scatological take on F&S amusing, but I sat "po-faced" throughout)
update - po-faced out of a sense of nostalgic loyalty to F&S, one of my father's favourites, and who I loved listening to.
2. (It was disturbing to watch the Armstrong Miller Dentist sketches on the eve of dental appointments. (an inappropriate dentist, who treats his captive audience to tales of the state of his dog's prostate and swinger parties *).
Luckily my Dentist favours Foxtel over Confessional. Although, as I noted in a recent comment, I didn't find Life After Humans a particularly relaxing progam to watch in that position.)
1. Humans are Dead?
Flight Of The Conchords was heralded by os blogs I like, and I was not dusapointid.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
TV 20-10
Was inspired to do this after aftergrog was whingeing about 20-1, which I never watch, but I did hear Debbi Enker roast on 774 (such dumbed-down shows are cheap oz-content filler apparently). So this post of loose ends is likewise ez-oz blog-content filler.
20. Graham Kennedy biopic, The King. Well crafted, expert reproduction, but lacking a sense of authenticity evident, say, in any home movie of the period. The gaucheness therein. These suave doppelgängers are actually 21st century aliens stranded in a sovereign hill of decor.
19. Is that the dilemma of all biopics? The faithfully-enacted chronicle where everyone knows the ending? Do the best narrow the focus to a key incident or relationship? Famous Person and the case of the Close Shave?.
18.Love My Way series one: contains some of the best television drama I've seen. Series two was very good. Series 3 - overall, didn't do it for me. I lost sympathy with most of the characters whose drive seemed directionless and victim of soap stasis.
17. But I did see this in the new style - by the box-set load, which can skew both appreciation and tolerance.
16. Often though in later series of TV shows, the stories move away from the smaller everyday moments of revelation, and the world and characters arc up (in order to jump the shark I guess)
15. ditto Kath n Kim. Despite the exotic locations and product placement courtesy C7, the best scenes still often happen around the kitchen. Though I did love the very visual moment when the big rainwater tank rolled off the car.
14. Despite the corn, I enjoyed Rain Shadow. I liked the slower pace and the novel relationship of the two female colleagues. I enjoyed seeing the younger woman's quietly assertive negotiation of bullying boss. Time slot was a killer, no one wants to deal with drought-despair on a Sunday night, even though the story proved to be redemptive.
13. The Abbey was OK. A call to gardening for me as I feel guilty about my lack of horticultural attendance.
12. Summer Heights High deserved the hype- mainly for Jonah and friends.
Good blend of fiction and real-life, on location and in location.
11. My favourite show at the moment is Grand Designs, or castle-building for cashed-up couples.
11. The cricket is too early.
10. And too much.
20. Graham Kennedy biopic, The King. Well crafted, expert reproduction, but lacking a sense of authenticity evident, say, in any home movie of the period. The gaucheness therein. These suave doppelgängers are actually 21st century aliens stranded in a sovereign hill of decor.
19. Is that the dilemma of all biopics? The faithfully-enacted chronicle where everyone knows the ending? Do the best narrow the focus to a key incident or relationship? Famous Person and the case of the Close Shave?.
18.Love My Way series one: contains some of the best television drama I've seen. Series two was very good. Series 3 - overall, didn't do it for me. I lost sympathy with most of the characters whose drive seemed directionless and victim of soap stasis.
17. But I did see this in the new style - by the box-set load, which can skew both appreciation and tolerance.
16. Often though in later series of TV shows, the stories move away from the smaller everyday moments of revelation, and the world and characters arc up (in order to jump the shark I guess)
15. ditto Kath n Kim. Despite the exotic locations and product placement courtesy C7, the best scenes still often happen around the kitchen. Though I did love the very visual moment when the big rainwater tank rolled off the car.
14. Despite the corn, I enjoyed Rain Shadow. I liked the slower pace and the novel relationship of the two female colleagues. I enjoyed seeing the younger woman's quietly assertive negotiation of bullying boss. Time slot was a killer, no one wants to deal with drought-despair on a Sunday night, even though the story proved to be redemptive.
13. The Abbey was OK. A call to gardening for me as I feel guilty about my lack of horticultural attendance.
12. Summer Heights High deserved the hype- mainly for Jonah and friends.
Good blend of fiction and real-life, on location and in location.
11. My favourite show at the moment is Grand Designs, or castle-building for cashed-up couples.
11. The cricket is too early.
10. And too much.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
teev meme
I did this meme in January, after Genevieve, but have been a bit slow to post.
Earliest remembered teev:
Wasn’t the earliest, that was just a black and white mash of panel shows and andy pandy cowboys and americans.
But when I was about 4, I did a drawing of Batman and Robin at Kinder. I loved Batman and thought it was serious crime drama. I had the merchandise too - a jigsaw and an inflatable swimming toy.
I felt a bit of the same bat excitement to see this bat site last week (via PCL):
TV series I would want on a desert island
I would hope something complex, but I have a feeling with my luck it would be effin Midsomer Murders which seems to be everywhere at the moment.*
Something long running? Maybe the Simpsons – I’ve never seen an episode apart from the early incarnation on Tracy Ullman.
(*Update: Now it's February and Midsomer's been bumped)
TV that made me laugh
As a child Get Smart.
A few that have made me lol:
Python, Ripping Yarns, The Tracy Ullman show, Larry Sanders, Ab Fab, One Foot In The Grave, King Of The Hill, Big Train, Smack The Pony, Father Ted, The Office
Most recently: Curb Your Enthusiasm, seen in 21C mode- via DVD boatload. Love it and agree with Susie that The Doll episode
Most of my older sibs used to watch Bellbird. We all cried when Charlie Cousens fell off the silo, though I was probably running with the pack rather than understanding the significance of silos or iconic moments of oz TV
Anything with a dog. Even Inspector Rex can make me cry.
TV crap that I enjoy
I used to love Eastenders in the late 80’s. A show about everyday losers when TV was obsessed with glam winners. My dog got to know the theme music which (at the closing credits) signified walk, so he became co-addicted.
I used to keep watching As Time Goes By. I don't why.
TV you'll never forget
When I was very young our neighbourhood friends were starring on Showcase, a talent show. Just as they were about to perform a pas de deux, the TV died. The 8 of us sped around the corner to the house of an accommodating neighbour to watch it.
Pennies From Heaven was a revelation.
Favourite TEEV adaptation
Love in a Cold Climate (1980), The Camomile Lawn, In a Land of Plenty, The Shark Net and recently Bleak House
One TV program you are currently watching
Recently rented the DVD of My Brother Jack. One of my favourite books, and despite the creakiness of 1965, I think it stands up quite well. Ed Deveraux, despite not conforming physically to my imagined Jack, is fabulous. The very beginning is a great piece of footage, the pedestrian streets of interwar suburbs.
Also enjoying the repeat of Bedtime for its theatrical writing and staging (albeit conventional theatre)
(Update: My Bro Jack went a bit belly up towards the end, and was rather stagey. But it still seems closer to the authentiCity of Melb in the 30's than the recent mini-series which was too pretty to be gritty.)
One TV show/series you have been meaning to watch
I agree with Genevieve. Love My Way. Shame it’s not on FTA, but at least we plebs can hire the DVDs.
Earliest remembered teev:
Wasn’t the earliest, that was just a black and white mash of panel shows and andy pandy cowboys and americans.
But when I was about 4, I did a drawing of Batman and Robin at Kinder. I loved Batman and thought it was serious crime drama. I had the merchandise too - a jigsaw and an inflatable swimming toy.
I felt a bit of the same bat excitement to see this bat site last week (via PCL):
TV series I would want on a desert island
I would hope something complex, but I have a feeling with my luck it would be effin Midsomer Murders which seems to be everywhere at the moment.*
Something long running? Maybe the Simpsons – I’ve never seen an episode apart from the early incarnation on Tracy Ullman.
(*Update: Now it's February and Midsomer's been bumped)
TV that made me laugh
As a child Get Smart.
A few that have made me lol:
Python, Ripping Yarns, The Tracy Ullman show, Larry Sanders, Ab Fab, One Foot In The Grave, King Of The Hill, Big Train, Smack The Pony, Father Ted, The Office
Most recently: Curb Your Enthusiasm, seen in 21C mode- via DVD boatload. Love it and agree with Susie that The Doll episode
is one of the most perfectly crafted half-hours of comedy in television historyTV that made me cry
Most of my older sibs used to watch Bellbird. We all cried when Charlie Cousens fell off the silo, though I was probably running with the pack rather than understanding the significance of silos or iconic moments of oz TV
Anything with a dog. Even Inspector Rex can make me cry.
TV crap that I enjoy
I used to love Eastenders in the late 80’s. A show about everyday losers when TV was obsessed with glam winners. My dog got to know the theme music which (at the closing credits) signified walk, so he became co-addicted.
I used to keep watching As Time Goes By. I don't why.
TV you'll never forget
When I was very young our neighbourhood friends were starring on Showcase, a talent show. Just as they were about to perform a pas de deux, the TV died. The 8 of us sped around the corner to the house of an accommodating neighbour to watch it.
Pennies From Heaven was a revelation.
Favourite TEEV adaptation
Love in a Cold Climate (1980), The Camomile Lawn, In a Land of Plenty, The Shark Net and recently Bleak House
One TV program you are currently watching
Recently rented the DVD of My Brother Jack. One of my favourite books, and despite the creakiness of 1965, I think it stands up quite well. Ed Deveraux, despite not conforming physically to my imagined Jack, is fabulous. The very beginning is a great piece of footage, the pedestrian streets of interwar suburbs.
Also enjoying the repeat of Bedtime for its theatrical writing and staging (albeit conventional theatre)
(Update: My Bro Jack went a bit belly up towards the end, and was rather stagey. But it still seems closer to the authentiCity of Melb in the 30's than the recent mini-series which was too pretty to be gritty.)
One TV show/series you have been meaning to watch
I agree with Genevieve. Love My Way. Shame it’s not on FTA, but at least we plebs can hire the DVDs.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Monday, August 25, 2003
comic camp
Last week boynton returned to a site she once visited almost daily IRL - the books at the old local Salvos. The word site is probably quite apt because the over-laden tables of uncategorized books made for a browsing experience not dissimilar to surfing the web. Precious children's books nestled with cooking, cultural theory classics with lonely planets, Neil Postman with Women who stay with Men who stray Boynton was hovering for a long time near a man who was squarely staying put over this title, with her eye not on the lofty literature, (as of yore) but the pop culture ephemera. Always a Batman fan - she snapped up The official Batman Batbook by Joel Eisner.
Included in the memorabilia, anecdotes and trivia was this account by one of the writers, Ellis St Joseph.
'My experience with 'Batman' was a very strange one. I loved doing it, but when I came into it, it was in its second year, and its ratings were falling off. I knew why- it was very clear to me - but it wasn't to them, because I believe they were so into it. There is a delicate balance bewteen comic or camp and suspense, and if you listen to the critics too much about the camp, you become totally comic and lose suspense. I think kids as well as grown-ups want a litlle suspense along with the comedy, but they had lost it. So, I set about creating something that would restore the feeling of suspense and even increase, if possible, the comedic elements.."
Getting this critical balance right, and then holding it is indeed the crucial factor.
Boynton can think of a few comedy shows that have sadly devolved into camp by their second or third series. It is rare for them to be able to regain the lost
cred, or comic suspense - as Elllis suggests.
This rare tonal balance is just as important and just as elusive in the theatre - boynton has often watched as the fine line is walked, sometimes trampled, sometimes waltzed.
(footnote: more on the fate of Eliis' episode The Sandman Cometh here)
Included in the memorabilia, anecdotes and trivia was this account by one of the writers, Ellis St Joseph.
'My experience with 'Batman' was a very strange one. I loved doing it, but when I came into it, it was in its second year, and its ratings were falling off. I knew why- it was very clear to me - but it wasn't to them, because I believe they were so into it. There is a delicate balance bewteen comic or camp and suspense, and if you listen to the critics too much about the camp, you become totally comic and lose suspense. I think kids as well as grown-ups want a litlle suspense along with the comedy, but they had lost it. So, I set about creating something that would restore the feeling of suspense and even increase, if possible, the comedic elements.."
Getting this critical balance right, and then holding it is indeed the crucial factor.
Boynton can think of a few comedy shows that have sadly devolved into camp by their second or third series. It is rare for them to be able to regain the lost
cred, or comic suspense - as Elllis suggests.
This rare tonal balance is just as important and just as elusive in the theatre - boynton has often watched as the fine line is walked, sometimes trampled, sometimes waltzed.
(footnote: more on the fate of Eliis' episode The Sandman Cometh here)
shark net
Thought The Shark Net was fabulous TV. Everything came together - writing, direction, casting. The universality of the story worked because of the authenticity and complexity of the local. It was so clearly Perth early 60's - an otherness of geography, light, social scale - but there were resonances everywhere in the layered imagery and dialogue.
In this long (46 min) but lively ABC Perth radio interview, the book's author Robert Drewe claims that the story of the serial killings that terrorized the city has become one of Western Australia's Central myths - almost like Kelly. Drewe joins Producer Sue Taylor, and Tony Cooke - son of the convicted killer, Eric Cooke - for a discussion that looks at both the techie questions of the series and also the social context - and the talk back callers confirm this sense of parochial myth - everyone has a story, and the story as a cultural catalyst.
Maxine McKew Lunch with Robert Drewe
what makes The Shark Net such a singular effort is Drewe's marriage of the ordinary and the positively gothic
The novel was adapted by Ian David. (Police crop, Blue Murder) Interesting transcript here of an earlier talk - mainly discussing the docu-drama form, but containing some good general observations on writing...
Since after-dinner chat became de rigeur in the odd cave in the South of France, those who peddle ideas and words, even pictures and music, have a contract with society, I believe. They're given a licence to journey into strange territories, and they're expected to be honest in their dealings and report back with due care and reverence to their experiences. They represent all of us in that collective dreaming pool, the human condition. If a writer can't, or won't take responsibility for being a diligent scout, then I believe society should strip him or her of their prizemoney and keyboard, and ignore their protestations until they day they pass on...
As a writer with this form of drama I am obsessed with irony. Apart from structure, it's the main creative contribution I make, it's my fingerprint. I try to suffuse my stories with irony like waves through marble cake. I try to look at things as though there is another opinion and another impression to be gained...
...Irony is a way to make comment while sticking to the facts. People always say what they don't mean. Intentionally or unintentionally, irony is revealing. Corporations and governments have elevated irony to an art-form, and to what they say is always what they don't mean...
Irony is everywhere
Comments: shark net
Damn - I missed it. Will have to keep a list of 'things to watch' somewhere obvious & stop falling asleep at ridiculous times.
Met Robert Drewe (briefly) a few years ago at a talk he gave here - asked him a really, really stupid question which ( thankfully) has been completely excised from my memory-zone, & which he very politely - er - was unable to answer.
The Ian David talk interesting - would have to agree that fiction easier, but not quite sure what he's saying about irony. Suffusing your stories with irony like waves through a marble cake is a rather yummy image though!
Posted by wen at August 26, 2003 08:56 AM
Stories like the Shark Net are what David Marr is missing or misunderstanding or ignoring when he calls on Aust. writers not to write about the "ordinary". Finding the extra-ordinary in the ordinary can be far more compelling (and instructive, if that's your thing). What if Alice Munro moved into the 'big world' - unthinkable!
Thankyou Miss Boynton for this opportunity to vent.
Posted by wen at August 26, 2003 09:02 AM
As an former Perthian, I agree the visuals were very reminiscent of Perth in an earlier age, but strangely I'd never heard of the serial killer myth.
Posted by Tony.T at August 26, 2003 10:15 AM
wen - sometimes dumb questions are good in such forums - better than the dreaded 'what does (the novel/play/poem) mean?'
I think David is talking about using irony in the political doco-drama context - as a way to expose the gap. It's a greatly abused and appropriated word, and it's prob less ironic than moronic for me to have put those 2 links together. But I think the Shark Net was really helped by having this gritty edge. Too often the tendency has been to go into whimsical overdrive with the surreal moments of a novel - gothic becomes grotesque, or worse, 'suburban quirky' - but David's restraint meant the ordinary did indeed become extra-ordinary. And as with that line of comedy and camp, I think it helps to play 'weird' as straight as possible - to keep the magic credible - lest it turn EZ lazy quirky.
Tony - there were things that were also reminiscent of "bygone" melb - (or even "present in certain pockets" melb). My nostalgic rush at the retro was tempered though by the story.
The light seemed different, very WA.
Interesting that you had not heard of the 'episode'- perhaps sometimes like the Beaumonts it's always there under the surface, and it takes a novel or a film to get people talking.
Posted by boynton at August 26, 2003 12:06 PM
If you or any of your readers want to learn the full story of our serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, read my book Broken Lives, published by Hardie Grant. It tells it all - and succeeded in exonerating John Button who was convicted of one of Cooke's murders, and a second one is going through the appeal court in Perth now.
Posted by estelle blackburn at September 4, 2003 05:44 PM
In this long (46 min) but lively ABC Perth radio interview, the book's author Robert Drewe claims that the story of the serial killings that terrorized the city has become one of Western Australia's Central myths - almost like Kelly. Drewe joins Producer Sue Taylor, and Tony Cooke - son of the convicted killer, Eric Cooke - for a discussion that looks at both the techie questions of the series and also the social context - and the talk back callers confirm this sense of parochial myth - everyone has a story, and the story as a cultural catalyst.
Maxine McKew Lunch with Robert Drewe
what makes The Shark Net such a singular effort is Drewe's marriage of the ordinary and the positively gothic
The novel was adapted by Ian David. (Police crop, Blue Murder) Interesting transcript here of an earlier talk - mainly discussing the docu-drama form, but containing some good general observations on writing...
Since after-dinner chat became de rigeur in the odd cave in the South of France, those who peddle ideas and words, even pictures and music, have a contract with society, I believe. They're given a licence to journey into strange territories, and they're expected to be honest in their dealings and report back with due care and reverence to their experiences. They represent all of us in that collective dreaming pool, the human condition. If a writer can't, or won't take responsibility for being a diligent scout, then I believe society should strip him or her of their prizemoney and keyboard, and ignore their protestations until they day they pass on...
As a writer with this form of drama I am obsessed with irony. Apart from structure, it's the main creative contribution I make, it's my fingerprint. I try to suffuse my stories with irony like waves through marble cake. I try to look at things as though there is another opinion and another impression to be gained...
...Irony is a way to make comment while sticking to the facts. People always say what they don't mean. Intentionally or unintentionally, irony is revealing. Corporations and governments have elevated irony to an art-form, and to what they say is always what they don't mean...
Irony is everywhere
Comments: shark net
Damn - I missed it. Will have to keep a list of 'things to watch' somewhere obvious & stop falling asleep at ridiculous times.
Met Robert Drewe (briefly) a few years ago at a talk he gave here - asked him a really, really stupid question which ( thankfully) has been completely excised from my memory-zone, & which he very politely - er - was unable to answer.
The Ian David talk interesting - would have to agree that fiction easier, but not quite sure what he's saying about irony. Suffusing your stories with irony like waves through a marble cake is a rather yummy image though!
Posted by wen at August 26, 2003 08:56 AM
Stories like the Shark Net are what David Marr is missing or misunderstanding or ignoring when he calls on Aust. writers not to write about the "ordinary". Finding the extra-ordinary in the ordinary can be far more compelling (and instructive, if that's your thing). What if Alice Munro moved into the 'big world' - unthinkable!
Thankyou Miss Boynton for this opportunity to vent.
Posted by wen at August 26, 2003 09:02 AM
As an former Perthian, I agree the visuals were very reminiscent of Perth in an earlier age, but strangely I'd never heard of the serial killer myth.
Posted by Tony.T at August 26, 2003 10:15 AM
wen - sometimes dumb questions are good in such forums - better than the dreaded 'what does (the novel/play/poem) mean?'
I think David is talking about using irony in the political doco-drama context - as a way to expose the gap. It's a greatly abused and appropriated word, and it's prob less ironic than moronic for me to have put those 2 links together. But I think the Shark Net was really helped by having this gritty edge. Too often the tendency has been to go into whimsical overdrive with the surreal moments of a novel - gothic becomes grotesque, or worse, 'suburban quirky' - but David's restraint meant the ordinary did indeed become extra-ordinary. And as with that line of comedy and camp, I think it helps to play 'weird' as straight as possible - to keep the magic credible - lest it turn EZ lazy quirky.
Tony - there were things that were also reminiscent of "bygone" melb - (or even "present in certain pockets" melb). My nostalgic rush at the retro was tempered though by the story.
The light seemed different, very WA.
Interesting that you had not heard of the 'episode'- perhaps sometimes like the Beaumonts it's always there under the surface, and it takes a novel or a film to get people talking.
Posted by boynton at August 26, 2003 12:06 PM
If you or any of your readers want to learn the full story of our serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, read my book Broken Lives, published by Hardie Grant. It tells it all - and succeeded in exonerating John Button who was convicted of one of Cooke's murders, and a second one is going through the appeal court in Perth now.
Posted by estelle blackburn at September 4, 2003 05:44 PM
Thursday, August 07, 2003
flimsy
boynton didn't last the distance with Jassy late on ABC TV last night. In fact she lasted about 15 minutes, even though she's a bit of a Margaret Lockwood fan. There are a few movies that seem to have a higher than average degree of circulation on the ABC, movies that haunt both the small hours and the unguarded black-and-white Saturday high noon. One that readily springs to screen - and starring Maragret Lockwood - is Love Story. Boynton usually watches this one through because it's sufficiently strange, as this summary of the "flimsy nonsense" may indicate:
She decides to see as much as possible before the Grim Reaper arrives but there's a war on and Cornwall is the best she can manage. She begins to write music but soon meets skiving engineer Stewart Granger. Naturally, she doesn't tell him about her condition and he doesn't tell her that he's not in the war because he's due to go blind in a few months. Still they fall in love despite their best efforts ...
And then there's that composing lark. Films have always bordered on the silly when they've attempted to show any artist at work, but music composers generally come across as complete nutters. Lockwood is a prime example. All it takes is a bit of a breeze and a few squawking seagulls and she's off creating The Cornish Rhapsody...
Although boynton is dutifully sceptical she's also rather fond of some good "flimsy nonsense" if the flimsy is substantial enough to achieve whimsy- so the next time Love Story lobs in at 2.30 am or pm, she'll probably watch it again.
Comments: flimsy
As a child in Melbourne (Carnegie in the 50's),one of our neighbors was Margaret Lockwood's brother.
Just thought I would provide that useless bit of info.
Cheers
Posted by Murray Shepherd at August 12, 2003 03:34 PM
Wow! That's some scoop -just the sort of 'useless bit of info' that I love, Murray.
It surely enhances the reputations of both melb and Carnegie - and is a bit of local folklore I've never heard before.
Cheers.
Posted by boynton at August 12, 2003 03:48 PM
She decides to see as much as possible before the Grim Reaper arrives but there's a war on and Cornwall is the best she can manage. She begins to write music but soon meets skiving engineer Stewart Granger. Naturally, she doesn't tell him about her condition and he doesn't tell her that he's not in the war because he's due to go blind in a few months. Still they fall in love despite their best efforts ...
And then there's that composing lark. Films have always bordered on the silly when they've attempted to show any artist at work, but music composers generally come across as complete nutters. Lockwood is a prime example. All it takes is a bit of a breeze and a few squawking seagulls and she's off creating The Cornish Rhapsody...
Although boynton is dutifully sceptical she's also rather fond of some good "flimsy nonsense" if the flimsy is substantial enough to achieve whimsy- so the next time Love Story lobs in at 2.30 am or pm, she'll probably watch it again.
Comments: flimsy
As a child in Melbourne (Carnegie in the 50's),one of our neighbors was Margaret Lockwood's brother.
Just thought I would provide that useless bit of info.
Cheers
Posted by Murray Shepherd at August 12, 2003 03:34 PM
Wow! That's some scoop -just the sort of 'useless bit of info' that I love, Murray.
It surely enhances the reputations of both melb and Carnegie - and is a bit of local folklore I've never heard before.
Cheers.
Posted by boynton at August 12, 2003 03:48 PM
Monday, August 04, 2003
pop
sampling some of the ring tones on offer to uk phone phiends, boynton found one named good vibrations. Hard to know if it's related to that other single sometimes called the greatest ever. Certainly a bold rhythmic interpretation. Interesting to see that "Give peace a Chance" is also available- the ring tone speaking for those ambient listeners caught in the sound zone of the public mobile user.
The Beatles Go too far - a six page preview of a new work by comic artist Sean Ward (via assorted grotesqueries)
boynton may have been aiming for something vaguely Robinson-esque in the DIY space costume stakes recently - but no doubt ended up looking more like this
Also from Marta Kristen's web site - Loused up in Space - a page from the 1966 Mad magazine satire, and the Robinsons time travelling to Family Feud. (In space no one can hear you playing word association)
The Beatles Go too far - a six page preview of a new work by comic artist Sean Ward (via assorted grotesqueries)
boynton may have been aiming for something vaguely Robinson-esque in the DIY space costume stakes recently - but no doubt ended up looking more like this
Also from Marta Kristen's web site - Loused up in Space - a page from the 1966 Mad magazine satire, and the Robinsons time travelling to Family Feud. (In space no one can hear you playing word association)
Monday, July 28, 2003
how to write good
If an Old House Could Talk, What Tales It Would Tell:
THE FLOOR:Do you remember the time the middle-aged lady who always wore the stilletto heels tripped over an extension cord while running to answer the phone and spilled the Ovaltine all over me and they spent the next 20 minutes mopping it up?
THE WALL: No.
From How to write good (via Particles- one liners from Making Light)
'I have always instinctively felt if one wants to dramatise history and historical figures like George V and Mary, Lloyd George and Asquith, it is best to do it through a half open door as they might appear to a child. For if we were to achieve that perennial fantasy of time travel and propel ourselves backwards into any time but our own, we would almost certainly find ourselves staring at it with the same mixture of cool detachment and deep curiosity that children naturally possess" - Stephen Poliakoff
Creating The Lost Prince (which concluded on ABC TV last night)
The writer's block (via Jerz's Literacy weblog)
Comments: how to write good
I watched the second part this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Whilst initially thinking that Hollander & Richardson were going to be painted as hard-hearted meanies, by the conclusion the show was well balanced out.
I thought Poliakoff neatly put across the notion that whilst Johnny was put out of the way the parents did it in light of attendant complications rather than any personal animosity to/embarrassment about the kid. To me this was always going to be the major challenge to any scriptwriter who may have been tempted to couch the show in terms of modern sensibilities. And therefore attribute blame or inject implicit criticism.
The last half hour was particularly moving without being maudlin.
As to the historical veracity, I couldn't attest one way or the other.
And I didn't refer to Richardson as "Queenie" even once.
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 04:45 PM
From what I read on this BBC site, it seems that not many people would be able to attest to the historical veracity, it was such a historical footnote. Perhaps this made it easier for Poliakoff to adapt - not being beholden to the dreaded scholarly cabal ready for nit-picking.
I agree Tony - I thought it was great, and I enjoyed it more than his other work - if such comparisons are useful. I think it was more contained - possibly by the discipline of history and a real story. There were many striking moments of theatricality that really worked on film, in the way that Dennis Potter sometimes does. But this style was well balanced with the narrative drive and condensed characterisation.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:20 PM
Well said Boynty. And contained. Good shot selection. Written like a true, umm, err, person who knows things about theatre and stories and stuff.
PS: As a person of letters (and punctuation thingos), what's the go with "A History" versus "An History"?
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Yeah I saw that lapse just then, Tony. It should be an "an" - speaking as an historian ( well, that's poetically speaking)
Your having spotted it means I'll have to let it lie.
Just as my - freewheeling - punctuation so often lies for me...
(Note the title of the post...)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:45 PM
It was really interesting to see the changes wrought by WWI from Mary's perspective - most often look at it (from a literary perspective, anyway) as a period of progress, heralding the burgeoning of the Modern. But from Mary's perspective, a whole world, a whole way of life, indeed, the whole way the world was ordered, was wiped out, just like that. I thought the killing of the Tsar's family was used really cleverly - it was horrific & chilling, but also a good way of representing the end of that particular world (& not just in Russia).
Posted by wen at July 29, 2003 03:36 PM
I agree - and Miranda Richardson was able to convey so well the inherent contradictions of her character in a time of major upheaval. What I really like about Poliakoff's slow storytelling style is the space given to the actors to reveal such nuances - and in turn, the time given to the audience to gaze.
I agree, the killing of the Romanovs as stark as it was, (I couldn't watch actually) just managed to avoid being heavy-handed - because of the precise symbolic foreshadowing.
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 04:01 PM
THE FLOOR:Do you remember the time the middle-aged lady who always wore the stilletto heels tripped over an extension cord while running to answer the phone and spilled the Ovaltine all over me and they spent the next 20 minutes mopping it up?
THE WALL: No.
From How to write good (via Particles- one liners from Making Light)
'I have always instinctively felt if one wants to dramatise history and historical figures like George V and Mary, Lloyd George and Asquith, it is best to do it through a half open door as they might appear to a child. For if we were to achieve that perennial fantasy of time travel and propel ourselves backwards into any time but our own, we would almost certainly find ourselves staring at it with the same mixture of cool detachment and deep curiosity that children naturally possess" - Stephen Poliakoff
Creating The Lost Prince (which concluded on ABC TV last night)
The writer's block (via Jerz's Literacy weblog)
Comments: how to write good
I watched the second part this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Whilst initially thinking that Hollander & Richardson were going to be painted as hard-hearted meanies, by the conclusion the show was well balanced out.
I thought Poliakoff neatly put across the notion that whilst Johnny was put out of the way the parents did it in light of attendant complications rather than any personal animosity to/embarrassment about the kid. To me this was always going to be the major challenge to any scriptwriter who may have been tempted to couch the show in terms of modern sensibilities. And therefore attribute blame or inject implicit criticism.
The last half hour was particularly moving without being maudlin.
As to the historical veracity, I couldn't attest one way or the other.
And I didn't refer to Richardson as "Queenie" even once.
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 04:45 PM
From what I read on this BBC site, it seems that not many people would be able to attest to the historical veracity, it was such a historical footnote. Perhaps this made it easier for Poliakoff to adapt - not being beholden to the dreaded scholarly cabal ready for nit-picking.
I agree Tony - I thought it was great, and I enjoyed it more than his other work - if such comparisons are useful. I think it was more contained - possibly by the discipline of history and a real story. There were many striking moments of theatricality that really worked on film, in the way that Dennis Potter sometimes does. But this style was well balanced with the narrative drive and condensed characterisation.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:20 PM
Well said Boynty. And contained. Good shot selection. Written like a true, umm, err, person who knows things about theatre and stories and stuff.
PS: As a person of letters (and punctuation thingos), what's the go with "A History" versus "An History"?
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Yeah I saw that lapse just then, Tony. It should be an "an" - speaking as an historian ( well, that's poetically speaking)
Your having spotted it means I'll have to let it lie.
Just as my - freewheeling - punctuation so often lies for me...
(Note the title of the post...)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:45 PM
It was really interesting to see the changes wrought by WWI from Mary's perspective - most often look at it (from a literary perspective, anyway) as a period of progress, heralding the burgeoning of the Modern. But from Mary's perspective, a whole world, a whole way of life, indeed, the whole way the world was ordered, was wiped out, just like that. I thought the killing of the Tsar's family was used really cleverly - it was horrific & chilling, but also a good way of representing the end of that particular world (& not just in Russia).
Posted by wen at July 29, 2003 03:36 PM
I agree - and Miranda Richardson was able to convey so well the inherent contradictions of her character in a time of major upheaval. What I really like about Poliakoff's slow storytelling style is the space given to the actors to reveal such nuances - and in turn, the time given to the audience to gaze.
I agree, the killing of the Romanovs as stark as it was, (I couldn't watch actually) just managed to avoid being heavy-handed - because of the precise symbolic foreshadowing.
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 04:01 PM
Monday, July 14, 2003
chips
Further update on writing and cycling with this biographical detail about James Hilton
After a week without inspiration he went out cycling "in a blue funk" on a foggy winter morning in Epping Forest until "suddenly an idea bobbed up and (he) saw the whole story in a flash". In four days he had "banged out" a story about an elderly, much-loved schoolmaster which he entitled Goodbye, Mr Chips.
boynton watched the ITV remake starring Martin Clunes last night, but having recently watched the Donat/Garson version again was disappointed. The script seemed to miss the keys, the slight shift from the personal to the institutional focus meant that the essential story of the power of love to transform and renew, of the critical mass of kindness and confidence, was lost in the fulsome chronology. Readers have probably picked up by now that boynton is a sucker for the (supposed) sentimental and mawkish - but the '39 film balances the sentiment with the shock of the story, the truth of the characters. (Maybe boynton has a high sentimental threshold, and rising.) It's a reminder of the art of the golden era that a script could condense a story so well. Boynton wondered if a classic script is ever used as a template, that like a play the remake is in the new cast and direction. New actors and directors alone are enough to imaginatively regenerate a suposedly dated script?
Comments: chips
Don't think Clunes was as good as Donat nor whatsername as good as Garson. However, I thought they handled the sentimentality more in keeping with our, not their, times.
His marriage and subsequent development as a human being/teacher was far less ably articulated in this latter version. And was also a lesser part of the story than the 1939 movie.
Never the less, the greater detail of this edition helped flesh out the original movie. Especially if you haven't read the book. As I haven't.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:13 PM
I left out my sentences about comparing the katherines, Greer v Victoria, because I guess it comes down to personal prejudice - and we can't have that in a blog, can we. Suffice to say: Greer seemed to have the neccesary warmth and charm. Don't agree with you about this one's sentimentality reflecting ours - unless gratuitous refs to suffrage/feminism and the evils inherent in such a class-riddled institution (in the first place)are meant to fob us off and accept what is essentially an old-fashioned story. The key emotional moments of the film - sometimes note-worthy for their lack of sentiment in 39, were merely unengaging.
But I do agree that some of the detail of this one was good for us who have not read the text. Sometimes there was however that uneasy feeling of the line between a one-off movie and a mini-series being crossed? Have to revisit the 60's musical version too, one day.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 07:33 PM
After a week without inspiration he went out cycling "in a blue funk" on a foggy winter morning in Epping Forest until "suddenly an idea bobbed up and (he) saw the whole story in a flash". In four days he had "banged out" a story about an elderly, much-loved schoolmaster which he entitled Goodbye, Mr Chips.
boynton watched the ITV remake starring Martin Clunes last night, but having recently watched the Donat/Garson version again was disappointed. The script seemed to miss the keys, the slight shift from the personal to the institutional focus meant that the essential story of the power of love to transform and renew, of the critical mass of kindness and confidence, was lost in the fulsome chronology. Readers have probably picked up by now that boynton is a sucker for the (supposed) sentimental and mawkish - but the '39 film balances the sentiment with the shock of the story, the truth of the characters. (Maybe boynton has a high sentimental threshold, and rising.) It's a reminder of the art of the golden era that a script could condense a story so well. Boynton wondered if a classic script is ever used as a template, that like a play the remake is in the new cast and direction. New actors and directors alone are enough to imaginatively regenerate a suposedly dated script?
Comments: chips
Don't think Clunes was as good as Donat nor whatsername as good as Garson. However, I thought they handled the sentimentality more in keeping with our, not their, times.
His marriage and subsequent development as a human being/teacher was far less ably articulated in this latter version. And was also a lesser part of the story than the 1939 movie.
Never the less, the greater detail of this edition helped flesh out the original movie. Especially if you haven't read the book. As I haven't.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:13 PM
I left out my sentences about comparing the katherines, Greer v Victoria, because I guess it comes down to personal prejudice - and we can't have that in a blog, can we. Suffice to say: Greer seemed to have the neccesary warmth and charm. Don't agree with you about this one's sentimentality reflecting ours - unless gratuitous refs to suffrage/feminism and the evils inherent in such a class-riddled institution (in the first place)are meant to fob us off and accept what is essentially an old-fashioned story. The key emotional moments of the film - sometimes note-worthy for their lack of sentiment in 39, were merely unengaging.
But I do agree that some of the detail of this one was good for us who have not read the text. Sometimes there was however that uneasy feeling of the line between a one-off movie and a mini-series being crossed? Have to revisit the 60's musical version too, one day.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 07:33 PM
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