A random thread for small entertainment things not warranting their own thread..

[Mr Larrington]

DJ Random recently served up Megadeth's cover of "Anarchy In The UK".  I laughed so hard I nearly sicked up my own intenstines.

[spesh]

Alexander Armstrong. he of the unusually large ears and "Pointless" has released* an album of songs.

 

Quoth J. B. S. Haldane - "... the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." 

*OK, it wasn't released, it escaped

 

[tiermat]

Watching MTV's The Ride, last night, which was about Green Day, I noticed that they completely failed to mention Nimrod. They talked about Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), but then didn't mention the album it was from. This lead me to wonder if I had actually just confused it with another one. Looked this morning and, no, Nimrod was the fifth album, released in 1997 and, to my mind, much stronger than Insomniac. MTV, you are shit at musical history.

[Andrij]

... MTV, you are shit at musical history.

FTFY

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I've just started watching series 1 of Humans, and I can't help thinking that lots of these problems would have been avoidable if they made the robots look like robots.

[Ruthie]

True, but then most of the storyline wouldn't have happened.

[hillbilly]

Contemporary dance. Aka an art form I could do, as it involves flailing around, as far as I could see. I suspect I may be missing the finer points of the art form....

(Inspired by my first experience at Saddlers Well yesterday. A reinterpretation of Swan Lake, whose good reviews lured me into their arena of corybantic agitation.)

[Mr Larrington]

Dear the BBC,

Please stop employing Gyles Bloody Brandreth.

Thank you.

[Mrs Pingu]

^

[T42]

Yeah, I saw that too, thanx to Nick from Fulham.  The Brandreth person should be interred post-haste.

[tiermat]

Channel 5's Tour De Celeb*, what an utter pile of shite.

Take 2 has been sportspeople (ok, they are competitive, so adds a little to the program), scatter the rest of the cast with has-beens and Z-listers.  Add the obligatory camp dancer (who is, to be fair, funny), get them to "train" to do "The World's Hardest Bike Race"** and you have a recipe for, pardon the pun, car crash TV.  The 'sleb reality TV show woman really, really gets on my thrupenny bits (oh it's soooo scary, it's really difficult, I could have been crushed by a car), FFS, take one big cup of HTFU and get over yourself.

*I am sure I saw a thread about it, yesterday, but can't find it!
**Etape Du Tour, yes really!

[Peter]

Tiermat, I have to play the wowbagger card for this: with the exception of the skeleton Olympic champion, I don't think I'd heard of any of them.  I managed 5 minutes before switching off.

[tiermat]

Tiermat, I have to play the wowbagger card for this: with the exception of the skeleton Olympic champion, I don't think I'd heard of any of them.  I managed 5 minutes before switching off.

You mean you hadn't heard of either Austin Healey or Darren Gough?  Even I knew who they were and I don't really follow their respective sports.

[Peter]

Ah, yes, I've just checked Radio Times!  But I switched on in the middle and the five minutes I saw (with the sound off)  either didn't contain them or not for long enough for them to register.  Their participation just makes it more of a farce.  I think I could probably just about manage the Etape and I'm well-old as my pupils keep reminding me;  why it would be remarkable that ex-internationals (even England internationals) might do it with all that professional help escapes me!

Peter

I might struggle with all the hugging, though.

[JBB]

Channel 5's Tour De Celeb*, what an utter pile of shite.

Take 2 has been sportspeople (ok, they are competitive, so adds a little to the program), scatter the rest of the cast with has-beens and Z-listers.  Add the obligatory camp dancer (who is, to be fair, funny), get them to "train" to do "The World's Hardest Bike Race"** and you have a recipe for, pardon the pun, car crash TV.  The 'sleb reality TV show woman really, really gets on my thrupenny bits (oh it's soooo scary, it's really difficult, I could have been crushed by a car), FFS, take one big cup of HTFU and get over yourself.

*I am sure I saw a thread about it, yesterday, but can't find it!
**Etape Du Tour, yes really!

I just saw it as a bit of lighthearted fun. I think everyone has fallen off in their cleats at least once and yes, close passes are scary - isn't it a good thing they mention this?
As regards the Etape it is hard. My sister did it in her mid forties; normally did a bit of Audax ( 10 hours for 200 about usual I think). She trained all winter, lost weight etc. She got round with 40 minutes to spare. It's busy, crowded and it's easy to lose time queuing (especially when the road is blocked by walkers on the first climb).

I think it's quite a challenge to complete it successfully just training for eight weeks and I'm quite happy to watch a bit of cycling on TV that's not moaning on about drugs or red light jumping. It's light entertainment after all.

[tiermat]

I sort of see your point, JBB, but for one thing.  If it was mentioned once, maybe twice in the whole program series, that would be fine, but she seemed to be banging on, every 5 seconds about how scary, how difficult it is.  She really does need to take a big cup of HTFU but, to be honest, I don't think I'll watch any more as it will just give Mrs T more of a "safety" stick to beat me with when I go out cycling.

[JBB]

I sort of see your point, JBB, but for one thing.  If it was mentioned once, maybe twice in the whole program series, that would be fine, but she seemed to be banging on, every 5 seconds about how scary, how difficult it is.  She really does need to take a big cup of HTFU but, to be honest, I don't think I'll watch any more as it will just give Mrs T more of a "safety" stick to beat me with when I go out cycling.

Fortunately I am allowed out on my own with no problems. The compromise is I wear a helmet (which is OKish). I will be interested how she gets on because judging by others comments she's a natural climber so I'll watch next week and report back. I'm also watching as I am acquainted with Rob Hayles' family so an interest there.

[Torslanda]

Having been dragged grumbling & grumpy into the late 20th century I'd used the murdochator box to record this for later consumption. Stayed with it until the dancer started bitching about one of the women whilst having a pedicure FFS!

'Etape du Tour?' 'Non, c'est un Croque de Merde!'

[T42]

Chum of mine did it a few years back. At the end he wasn't going to hang around for the tombola but his mates wanted to so he stayed and won a 9000 € made-to-measure bike.

Y a des croques et des croques.

[Wowbagger]

Our Brahms performance of the German Requiem went off very well on 19th November. For the Christmas concert we are doing some of the usual carols and a performance of "Night of Miracles", by some chap named Peterson. It's a mega-trashy 1950s setting of lots of the same bits of the bible that Handel used in the Messiah - very Disneyfied. I don't think it will be replacing George Frederic's masterpiece as the default Christmas* work.  Unfortunately I shall be missing the performance on 17th December, which is a shame as Colin, our director, asked me to sing the baritone solo.

*OK, I know it's not just about Christmas, but that's when most of the performances take place.

[madcow]

If you wanted a dry as dust subject for a TV programme then peat might just fit the bill.
But the offering from BBC Alba last night was anything but dull. It covered a lot of social history and more importantly,the presenter never got in the way of the story.
I am getting quite fed up with programmes like Countryfile and Countrywise and the way they present the countryside (nothing seems to happen without the involvement of a warden,ranger,environmental campaign group or charity) and  the formats chop and change from one subject to the next, only to go back to the first topic half an hour later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b083lvjl/trusadh-series-9-6-moinepeats
Worth watching for the scenery as well.

[Torslanda]

Chum of mine did it a few years back. At the end he wasn't going to hang around for the tombola but his mates wanted to so he stayed and won a 9000 € made-to-measure bike.

Y a des croques et des croques.

Comment was re the TV prog, not the event . . .

[T42]

I wouldn't know about that, thank God.

[Jakob]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/jungle-book-rogue-one-advance-visual-effects-oscar-race-951577
Blowing my own trumpet.
Long list for the VFX oscar...and I worked on 5 of those!

[mrcharly-YHT]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/jungle-book-rogue-one-advance-visual-effects-oscar-race-951577
Blowing my own trumpet.
Long list for the VFX oscar...and I worked on 5 of those!

And you can't tell us which 5 or you'd have to kill us?