Year: 2006

News from the House of Skelton

17 April 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Charlie Skelton (of Space Cadets, London News Review, Once More, with Feeling, etc) has dropped me a line to say hello and to let everyone know about his latest projects and some of his current favourite links:

Hi Rob…

…I thought you might be interested in:

i) thepooters.com, which is a ‘Pooterpedia’™ that Alan and I are putting together.

ii) one of the funniest things I’ve ever read on the web is: www.sneezefetishforum.org/forums – I’ll blog about it when I have the time. Between sneezes. (See if you can find the post about the German guy who’s put films of his girlfriend sneezing on YouTube.)

iii) I’m about to show L* S* [Charlie’s spoof food critic: I’ve removed the name to preserve the mystery] to the Observer Food Monthly, to see what Nicola Jeal thinks. Once I’ve posted up a thing about how you should use the spinach water and throw away the spinach.

Happy Easter,

Charlie

Charlie was also very flattered by one of this blog’s regular readers including Once More, with Feeling in her top seven list of books. To preserve some sense of mystery and a regular readership, I won’t say who it was yet. Keep reading and maybe I’ll reveal all.

PS: If you’re interested in what happened between London News Review and Paul Carr there’s a detailed explanation by Sean Walsh available for all to see. And then sue for libel.

Don’t show Channel 4 the results

17 April 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Just when you think the bottom of every barrel had been scraped, someone goes to the back of the store room and finds yet another one. Yes, all pub conversations can end because finally, word is in of the top “hotel-based movie scene”. Yes, Travelodge got 3,000 people to tell them which scenes in movies set in hotels are the best scenes in movies set in hotels and the results are in: of all the scenes in movies set in hotels, Pretty Woman‘s bath scene is the best, beating both The Shining and Psycho to the number one spot.

Worrying for Travelodge that those two snuck in there, isn’t it? In fact, hotel scenes in general seem to have bad connotations. Best Bullseye voice: “In one: prostitutes! In two: serial killers with multiple personality disorders! In three: homicidal madness caused by ghosts! Now visit your local Travelodge.” Not sure I’d have bothered publishing those results, if I were them, but maybe there’s a whole new demographic for Travelodge to target that I’ve never contemplated.

More worrying though is the idea that Channel 4 will turn the whole endeavour into a list show. Best Jimmy Carr voice: “Number 1 was Pretty Woman. I knew a woman once. She was pretty. Aren’t Gypsies rubbish?”

Thanks Channel 4! Could you not though?

UK TV

Review: Doctor Who – 2×1 – New Earth

17 April 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

David Tennant will a silly haircut

What was the most rubbish bit about Doctor Who on Saturday then?

  1. The 20 minutes of padding in the middle of the script
  2. The bit where they forced David Tennant to do an Austin Powers impression?
  3. The fact someone had turned the volume on the incidental music all the way up to 11?

Hopefully next week’s will be better.

They’ve given who a Walk of Fame star?

13 April 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I had a minor rant about Queen Latifah being given a Hollywood Walk of Fame star a while ago. I take it all back. That seems eminently reasonable now.

Because they’ve just given a Walk of Fame star to Winnie the Pooh.

Queen Latifah, for all her faults, is an actual human being. Winnie the Pooh isn’t real (although don’t we all wish he was?). You cannot give a Walk of Fame star to Winnie the Pooh, whether he’s in book form, CGI or a cartoon. Are they going to give Simon Templar a star next? BA Baracus? The ants from A Bug’s Life? It’s a world gone mad, I tell you!

Still, there’s probably a precedent somewhere. They’ve almost certainly given R2D2 a star.