Here is the cheat clue for tonight’s music round at the Newsroom. It’s Scottish 90s favourites band: Travis.
Ben and Tracy – being grown up
I never like this song at the time – wrote it off as another boring Travis song but I’ve just watched the video which I’d never seen and the song really got to me.
A wee bit emotional actually.
I must be getting old.
As we get older we get more knowledgable.
Caitlin at the Monkey asked me last night “Where do you get all these questions from? Do you actually know this stuff?“
She was specifically referring to the Pangolin in the picture round. Here is a pangolin:
A pangolin
So if you didn’t know what a pangolin looked like, you do now. And you might forget the name but then again you might not.
The point is, it’s just a matter of time before you run into these things.
Eventually you learn EVERYTHING.
This happens around the age of 40. And that, kids, is why us grown-ups are just so damn clever.
Tonight is the last quiz fo a few weeks at The Ship Inn. The pub is getting a big refurb. Kerry says it’s no bad thing as the place kinda needs it. Luckily for Kerry fans on that side of the city, she is starting a new early quiz on Monday at the newly opened Portobello Tap. More details on that to follow – but basically Monday 7pm – starting this coming week.
Cheat Clue
Here are the cheat clue for tonight’s music round at the Ship Inn. It’s your old pal fae France: Jean-Michel Jarre:
Tina Tuner singing about humping in cars
I love Jean-Michel Jarre and his futuristic French music of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
This is from a time when everything was about Star Wars and the Space Shuttle and you got excited when the space correspondent (I think he was called Reg Turnhill – something like that) was on John Craven’s Newsround because it meant SPACE NEWS.
Perhaps Skylab was crashing in Australia, perhaps the Shuttle was launching a telescope, perhaps Pioneer had reached Jupiter. Cool shit like that.
Frenchman Jarre reflected the zeitgeist, creating music which conjured up stars, galaxies and space stations.
Consequently his music was frequently used on television as the musical backdrop for tech and space.
There were imitators everywhere and by the end of the 80s, all British TV theme tunes for science shows and quiz shows sounded like a cheap Jean-Michel Jarre.
It was jackpots all the way last week so minimum jackpots everywhere tonight. That means no carpet-baggers: just your fun friends and the people who love quiz for quiz.
Anyway: here’s the music round cheat which applies to the quiz at the Argyle. It’s Mandy Moore:
Proper
This is the late 90s and things seem pretty wholesome. There are schoolkids and skaters. Everyone is happy. This is America pre-911, pre-Trump, pre-crash.
All the comments on youtube about this video are full of old-already 20- and 30-somethings crying about a past that no longer exists.
Wait till you’re forty-odds. Then you’ll see.
Anyway – enough of the bitterness. Come to the quiz!
9pm – The Newsroom. Jackpot £50. Cheat answer: Bad Company (music round).
The cheat answers for tonight include this song by Bad Company: It’s a song called ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’ which is a song about a guy who really wants to have sex, soon.
This is from the 1970s when men tried to attract female mates via the use of wide-hemmed trousers. It didn’t work, the baby-boom crashed and the population took a hit until the 80s brought sexy back.
Anyway, as you do know: Thursday is currently MOVIE Thursday: I’m counting down the list of my ten favourite films of all time.
Whoa! Aliens have invaded Planet Earth, have taken over, are running the whole thing… AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN REALISE IT
This is the concept of ‘They Live’ which stars wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper who uncovers the aliens and then faces a race to save his life.
This happens when he accidentally puts on some sunglasses which show the world for what it truly is: a shitshow run by intergalactic freaks who control your mind every day:
It turns out EVERYTHING has a hidden subliminal but then THEY know that he knows:
Then there’s a top class fight where Roddy Piper forces the other bloke to wear the shades
Look, even if you don’t watch the movie – watch the fight scene:
I don’t even like fight scenes, but this is good. It’s also epic, as in long – over 5 minutes. This post explains why the fight is so long.
Are you trying to say you don’t like dancing penguins?
In lots of ways, They Live is slightly shite – it’s essentially a B-Movie, but I watched it again a couple of years ago after a long time and it’s still compelling and great and it’s one of those films that you are constantly reminded of by the real world.
Definitely the greatest film ever made. It’s got a pounding soundtrack, hippies who appear to live wild in New York City, life death, babies and LSD trips mixed up with the Hare Krishna tribe.
I think I watched this once a month during 1994 which is when my group of friends discovered this movie that by then was already a relic.
I was too young to be a 1970s hippy but I’d been vaguely fascinated with this subculture before. My favourite character out of ‘The Young Ones’ was Neil and what teenager doesn’t want to be Danny out of ‘Withnail And I’?
But this American film gave a new spin to my understanding of 70s hippies: they could also be cool, blag their way into high-society parties and execute some pretty nifty pre-rehearsed song-and-dance routines.
The film evolved from an earlier stage musical. Apparently the musical’s writers thought the film wasted the original story and was a poor adaptation but I’ve seen a stage production and it was tedious compared to this grand entertainment.
Watch it but don’t ask for it to make much sense at all until it gets near the end and suddenly there is a real and possibly fatal human drama on top of all the sexy foolery of the last hour.
If the movie didn’t thump you with big emotions at the end it would probably be worth a single watch. But the heartbreak keeps me coming back, as do the songs and the mad set pieces.
e.g:
The horse ride in the park for the song ‘Sodomy’
Claude’s trip:
The bit where Woof won’t have his hair cut for a short spell in jail and is subsequently interrogated to find out if he is gay. He sings his way out of trouble, of course:
There’s load more but you have to watch the film. It’s the greatest film ever made and I fear that I have left no room to improve for my top 3. I’m gonna have to think hard to come up with something for next week.
Certified big money at the Argyle tonight. £210 on offer. Get a faceful from 7pm
Now, here’s the cheat clip for tonight’s music round at the the Argyle : which is a floppy Euro-rap effort from the early 1990s by Swedish weirdo Stakka Bo.
Pish but kind of engaging. And why does everyone look orange?
Anyway, Thursday now MOVIE Thursday where I use this blog to detail my ten favourite films of all time.
Literally the greatest film ever made. Did I say that last week? I’m sure I did but this is better.
Lots has been written about how good Das Boot is. I read this page yesterday. It’s fairly well-written and gives you a good idea of the film without giving too much away.
The need-to-know stuff is that the film is a story of German submariners during the Second World War, on patrol.
Their job is to sink British merchant shipping while avoiding being sunk themselves by the deadly destroyers of the Royal Navy.
I watched this with my dad when I was a kid and it blew my mind. I had been brought up on Victor comic and British war films where Jerry was always the bad guy.
This was the first time I had seen anything from the German point of view.
This was a big deal in itself but didn’t take too long to get used to. After succesfully putting aside partisanship you can start enjoying the film. I know the film but watched it again last month. It is still emotional and nail-biting.
Will they survive or will they die? You don’t know – you really don’t know – right up to the end…
So that’s Das Boot. It’s a massive classic and it’s on Netflix if you want to watch it.
I still have five films to pick. Maybe next week I’ll pick something modern. But probably not.
In any case, come to the quizzes tonight. You could win £280.
7pm – Argyle Bar (Cellar). Jackpot £150. Cheat answer: Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Titch (music round)
9pm – The Newsroom. Jackpot £50. Cheat answer: Gone With The Wind (pic round).
That’s four rollovers at the Argyle over the last four weeks. Surely we’ll get a winner tonight?
Meanwhile here’s the cheat clip for tonight’s music round at the Argyle: which is a sixties called Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch with a quality rocker from back in the day…
Tremendous.
Anyway, Thursday now MOVIE Thursday where I use this blog to detail my ten favourite films of all time.
I know I said that last week’s film was the greatest film ever made but this chart hasn’t been written in advance, I’m just thinking of the best film I can every week for 10 weeks so by the time we hit number 1 it should be totally banging.
Anyway- I re-watched The Good The Bad And The Ugly a couple of months ago just to check it is still brilliant and I was not let down.
Maybe you know the title but don’t know the film. Basically a story of bounty hunters, outlaws, civil war and treasure and it’s set in the American old west but filmed in Europe and made by the Italian director Sergio Leone.
There were several films of this ilk in the 60s which were made by Italian directors so they got the (slightly derogatory) name ‘Spaghetti Westerns’.
Unlike most American-made westerns, then men in the films were not clean-cut heroes. They were all dirty bastards, even the “goodies”. It was a refreshing change.
The Good The Bad and The Ugly is the last and the most famous of a trilogy by Leone and it’s just terrific.
There’s dirt in spades, sudden death at every corner and situations that just look like the end of the line, scenes of real desperation.
The film carries a constant sense of murder, menace and cheap life. All the way through you’re thinking “Ah couldnae cope with this”.
At the same time it manages to be funny, but without being a stupid clown.
Anand it has some of the greatest film music ever recorded. The music was composed by Ennio Morricone and stands the test of time. It’s a byword for “epic”
The main theme is a cracker, and very famous – but one of the best bits of tune is here: ‘The Ecstacy of Gold‘, when they finally find the cemetery they’ve been looking for, the cemetery with all the buried gold. The loot is in one of those graves.,the one marked ‘Arch Stanton’… all you have to do is find it…
Actually, Tuco finds the grave pretty quickly which is fortunate cos the music’s great and everything but it would be rubbish if this scene was two hours long which seems a more realistic prospect.
That’s why films are great though, isn’t it. They just tell you the story. None o’ the shite!
Watch this film – it is more satisfying than most. In fact, as I said above, it’s the greatest film ever made.
You want another recommendation? I happen to know this is James the Baker’s favourite film.
How is this film only number eight on my list?
Well, I have one week to think of something better.
Both pubs jackpots are in a rollover status tonight. This is unusual. Come and win the dough.
Meanwhile here’s the cheat clip for tonight’s music round at the Newsroom:
I love Alvin Stardust and I wish I went to see him a few years ago when he played Peebles but I spurned the opportunity and how he’s dead. This is, somehow, a bit like Brexit.
Speaking of which- I’m not talking about politics any more on Thursdays. I’ve had enough. Thursday is now MOVIE Thursday where I use this blog to detail my ten favourite films of all time.
I know I said that last week but JCS is absolutely banging. It’s the story of the last week of the life of Jesus, but largely from Judas’s point of view and with loads of strong rock music.
And a couple of nice ones too, just to smooth the butter.
This film includes the bit where Judas has to run away from tanks:
The bit where Jesus gets 39 lashes of the whip, to the pounding rhythm of raw rock:
It has the best religious hats of any film from the 1970s:
And it’s got the bit where Simon Zealotes goes absolutely mental and redefines dance itself:
The first ever production of JCS was the original album in 1970. On that cut, the part of Jesus was sung by Ian Gillan out of Deep Purple – the quality was high.
And, because it was all songs, the Broadway theatrical production which followed was deemed a “rock opera”.
Debate continues over what the term “rock opera” means and whether it has a meaning at all. Is it just a musical with an electric guitar?
Then, a few years later the film was made by Norman Jewison, a director whose other credits include ‘Rollerball’, ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘The Cincinnati Kid’.
Andrew Lloyd Webber (who wrote the music) apparently hated the film but he must be a lunatic.
So is it a rock opera? Does Webber approve? It doesn’t matter. All that matters is the acting is spot on, the scenery is amazing, the songs are unforgettable, the story is tight and emotional and it’s just fucking brilliant.
If you haven’t seen it because you “don’t like musicals”, you need to drop that toxic masculinity shit and get on board.
How is this film only number nine on my list?
Well, I have one week to think of something better.
First Thursday of the year and decent jackpots too. Hope to see you at the quiz tonight
Here’s the cheat clip for tonight’s music round at the Newsroom:
The youtube comments on the song argue over whether it was heroin or alcohol that killed singer Phil Lynott in 1985. Wikipedia says “he died of pneumonia and heart failure due to septicaemia… on 4 January 1986, at the age of 36.”
But the heroin obviously didn’t help.
POLITICS THURSDAY
Thursday is the day when I express my opinion on the crazy world of politics
This week’s point: ELECTIONS ARE NOT DEMOCRATIC. MPs ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE.
Members of the UK Parliament are currently paid over £77k a year. This is the basic salary, before expenses and any other income from writing books, chairing committees, property investments, after-dinner speaking and all that baloney.
The average UK salary is nearer £28k
So all MPs earn nearly three times as much as an average earner, and the multiples are intensified when you look at the people beneath that average. An article on GQ gives these averages: retail assistants (£10,296), hairdressers and barbers (£10,019), cleaners (£7,919), waitresses (£7,554)
How can an MP have any clue at all what life is like for his or her constituents earning ten times less cash? How can they truly “represent” any class except their own?
I don’t think they do. I say they only represent their own class, the professional class, and that’s what parliament is: it’s a talking shop for the well-to-do.
The only thing that could change this is either if MPs were paid the national average, or if parliament was chosen in the same way that juries are chosen: by random selection.
If the last option sounds mad, it’s not without precedent. Elections are a new way of doing democracy, random selection stretches back to Ancient Greece and, in a limited fashion, Ireland is doing it now
Our current political systems are broken, they have created a professional political class that naturally gives first service to the wealthy and treat the rest of us as an afterthought.
