Category: Life: TV and Movies

I was saddened to hear via the Guardian’s Online Blog that the BBC’s science and technology TV programme Tomorrow’s World has been axed after 38 years on the air.

I started watching it when I was young (when Judith Hann and Howard Stableford presented it) and it really interested me and “had me hooked”. They covered a wide range of innovations – occasionally getting them wrong (where are the robots to clean our houses?), but others they got more than spot on. I remember them demonstrating a new printing method which allows information to be printed on egg shells – it had to be delicate so as not to break the shell, lasting (you don’t want the ink to be easily rubbed off or smeared) and yet not soak through the shell: nowadays it’s quite difficult to buy eggs WITHOUT the “use by” date printed on the shell.

They also did (I think it was covered in one of the “Prince’s Trust” shows which were supported by Prince Charles) a way of printing on one side of glass yet allowing you to see through the other side (sort of like a one way mirror but without the mirror). Nowadays, at least around Leicester, you see buses with this sort of advertising on their rear and side windows. Oh – and they also covered how Zaphod Beeblebrox’s “extra” head did (or, as more was the case, didn’t) work in the TV series of Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

I stopped watching it when the BBC moved it off it’s (IIRC) 7.30 Wednesday night slot to make way for yet another episode of EastEnders. They then continually re-vamped it and seemed to dumb it down (and had less ‘in the studio’ articles which I really enjoyed). Shame such an “institution” has come to an end after so long, but my feelings are that the BBC alone are to blame for the falling audience figures.

Tomorrow’s World also gave me my first chance to operate a BBC television camera – it would then be many years before I next operated a broadcaster’s camera (Granada was the next company) and appear actually in front of a camera for a national TV show…

Wow! It seems hard for me to believe that LOTR: The Two Towers is already out at the cinema and I still haven’t watched LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring nor read any of the books.

I know there have already been a large number of reviews about “The Two Towers” film, but I’ve never really been “into” Tolkien so it’s doubtful whether I will see the film or not: but reading the 50 reasons why LOTR sucks (they also have a review of LOTR: TTT) and the quite valid reasons such as “Every time Frodo or Bilbo went invisible with the ring they should have also gone BLIND. Your eyes cannot function unless light is reflected off the cornea. If light passes through it (as must be the case with invisibility) sight is no longer possible. Also, rings do not turn you invisible.” makes me wonder if it is worth seeing anyway….

Continuing on from Sunday’s post of which films I would really like to see again, here’s another couple of movies.

Basically, Weird Al Yankovic’s “UHF” and “Troll” are two movies I’d like to watch again: but there’s a slight problem. Both films are only currently available on DVD – NTSC Region 1 (US and Canada). These means that my Region 2 (UK and Europe) PAL players just will not play them. Therefore, thanks to the regionalisation of DVDs, the makes of those movies have lost a potential customer who would have happily paid shipping from the States to the UK…

Anyway, on with the rambling:

I’ve just been speaking to my GESF (Green-Eyed Southern Friend) again – we’ve spoken quite a number of times this week in fact, but due to some potential confusion over what was said earlier in the week I decided not to write anything down as I might have been thinking the wrong thing and “jumping the gun”.

Anyway, as we were finishing the conversation, I promised that I’d send her the link to the Naked Quidditch Match, but she complained that she had no idea what Quidditch was as she hadn’t read any of the Harry Potter books as she thought it was just a blatant rip-off of Jill Murphy‘s “Worst Witch” books (and film and, more recently, the TV series).

That then started me thinking which films (that I haven’t already got) I would really like to see again. Ok, it’s now getting a little bit late for Christmas and some of them are “really oldies” or didn’t “take off” in a big way – but this is my blog and I wanna blog about these so there 🙂 I’ll just do two for tonight and two another night…

So: Why do I want to see “The Worst Witch” and “The Asphyx”?

I’ve just spent a number of lazy hours watching TV and eating whilst idly channel “surfing”. During that time, I noticed the the ‘slightly adult’ Men And Motors channel from Granada Sky Broadcasting seems to give a stereotypical impression of part of the population. Basically, Granada (the TV station that brings you Coronation Street) is based “up” in Manchester – and the “Men And Motors” shows seem to just have “northern lasses” on the programmes (the Manchurian and Liverpudlian accents tends to be quite distinctive, but some of the girls actually state they are from the North and North West – whether it’s a “cost saving measure” to save the camera crew travelling around the country, I don’t know). The only thing is, most of the shows on M+M appear to me to be about strippers and their work.

Yep, you’ve guessed it – it seems to give the impression that only “northern lasses” strip (and the majority of them are actually blonde – but on most you can tell they are bottle-blondes). Oh, and it’s doesn’t really help the “stereotypical impression” about “Scousers” being a bit lacking in the intelligence department either when some of the women being interviewed (this instance from a catwalk show or similar) come up with remarks such as “It’s not just about the look, it’s about the whole package – the walk, the look. It’s about the package”. In other words, “judge me and my fellow women by the way we look and walk only”.

Oh – and girls, I’ll hate to disappoint you, but some blokes do find large breasts a big turn-off!

Sorry for the slight rant, but I dislike “stereotypes” being reinforced – but Men And Motors just seems to want to reinforce the “Northern Blonde Bimbo Who’s Willing To Take Her Clothes Off As Soon As You Ask” stereotype a bit too much. And if it wasn’t for NTL: forcing me to “take” ‘Men and Motors’ as a cable TV channel then I wouldn’t have this to rant about (NTL show “Granada Plus” [an enjoyable channel showing old re-runs] between 6am and 11pm, when it then “switches over” to Men and Motors).

(Disclaimer: I’m actually from the Midlands and as far as I know, I have no relations in or from the Northern part of England – so you can’t say I’m “defending” the Scousers because I am one – as I’m not! A! Now just calm down, calm down!)