...of the year

The Villages

Date:	2008-12-28 22:20
Subject:	...of the year
Security:	Public
Location:	home
Mood:	calm
Music:	vast

One of the annoying things about this time of year is that every newspaper, news channel and broadcaster does `...Of The Year' roundups. I find this pisses me off, because I know all this stuff already. It also seems to me that there's no frakking point in releasing a book or a film around now because it won't be reviewed - the review pages are full of `Best/Worst Book/Film' of the year articles, and your mighty rollercoaster of an allegorical novel about the 2005 Ashes Test (in 10,120 rollicking pages) will just get lost at the bottom of a page about the best and worst celebrity cookery books of the year.
All is not lost, though. Every week the Telegraph's website does a best-picture-of-the-week photo gallery, a rich source of LOLs. They've just done a list of top picture galleries of the year, some of which I seem to have missed for some reason. The whole list is here, but my favourite is the gallery about the Guinea Pig Olympics, which contains pics like this:

I suspect a certain amount of CGI and Photoshopping has gone on in these pics, but they're fun, and there are more here. I feel some sigs approaching...

In other news, I didn't watch a lot of telly over Christmas. I should rephrase that - I didn't watch a lot of original telly over Christmas. I did watch a lot of reruns of Mock The Week, QI, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You on Dave.
The two bits of original programming I watched were the Doctor Who Christmas special, which I enjoyed a lot and during which it suddenly occurred to me what a brilliant Doctor Jason Isaacs would make, and a cracking documentary about the making of BlackAdder. I don't know how much longer the documentary's going to be available - the BBC usually takes stuff off the iPlayer after seven days - and whether those of you on the other side of the village pond will be able to watch it, but I know there are BlackAdder fans among us, and trust me, you'll enjoy this. It's here.

Back to work next week. I just get New Year's Day off. Although Friday ought to be a bit of a bust.

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User:	mylefteye
Date:	2008-12-28 23:17 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Same here re. the original programming. I watched the new Wallace and Gromit film (by choice) and the Royle Family (under duress). The rest of the time it's been reruns on Dave. Cheers for the heads up about the BlackAdder documentary. I must make a point of catching that before it expires.

Happy New Year!

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-28 23:24 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

I inadvertently missed the new W&G, although I managed to catch up with Curse Of The Were Rabbit, which was nice. The BlackAdder doc is full of wonderful little details - like Rowan Atkinson getting ready to shoot the first scene of the first series and not knowing what voice to use, and the evolution of the final shot of the last series. Mostly it's a shock to realise how young everyone was.
And a very happy and productive New Year to you as well, sir.

Edited at 2008-12-28 11:25 pm (UTC)

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User:	calcinations
Date:	2008-12-29 11:36 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Yes, it was a good little documentary, but I feel it could have been twice as long. They did rather skip over things.

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-29 22:29 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

You're right. I could have sat here all night watching those guys reminiscing. And I wanted to find out what Rowan Atkinson meant when he said he'd met his first camp Geordie at Alnwick, but they never did explain that.

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User:	sarcobatus
Date:	2008-12-29 00:14 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

buzzcock?

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User:	realthog
Date:	2008-12-29 01:47 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

It's a traditional English sport, kind of like Real Tennis crossed with Badminton. It's become popular in the UK recently because the BBC, having lost to satellite TV the rights to broadcast international Cricket matches, has been screening lesser known, "specialist" sports like Buzzcocks and Billiards to make up for the shortfall.

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-29 22:22 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Actually, Buzzcocks is originally French - les bois-coqs. It is a bit like badminton, but it's played with chainsaws and live chickens.

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User:	realthog
Date:	2008-12-29 22:23 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

"les bois-coqs"

Hence the expression "woody", in fact.

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-29 22:27 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

I believe it's a term originally used by the umpire in bois-coqs. As in `Jouer le woody, s'il vous plait.'

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User:	realthog
Date:	2008-12-29 22:36 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

As when, through the skill and dexterity of your raquetry (or through just stark luck), you'd succeeded in placing one of the chicks into the hay.

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-29 22:45 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Absolutely. That's the move also known as `croque-monsieur' among the Corsicans who play the game down in Marseille.

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User:	realthog
Date:	2008-12-29 23:04 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Well, what can you expect in Marseille? That's where they practise the woody en fois gras manoeuvre.

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User:	hutch0
Date:	2008-12-29 23:11 (UTC)
Subject:	(no subject)

Indeed. In some of the old mining towns on the French-Belgian border you can still be jailed for a move like that. Whereas in Paris it's just regarded as dreadfully de trop. Bof.

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