Is anybody else out there absolutely adoring that new series on the ABC of a Friday night: Upstart Crow? It's a comedic take on the life and works of William Shakespeare, and it's from the team behind Blackadder (another of my all-time favourites). Being something of a Word Nerd, I am in total rapture at the script of this show. Some of it is a little bit base, but if you're going to be base, then do it in the style of the Elizabethan. Let me put it this way, from now on I will think of blowing my nose as 'snotting and be-grollying the bogie-rag'. The episodes loosely work in to Will's day to day life what are plots of Shakespearean plays. The other night his friend Kit Marlowe introduced him to an exotic Moorish prince named Otello, and some nark tried to cause trouble by having Will use an identical handkerchief to that of Otello's love interest. So, if you know some Shakespeare, you will definitely reconcile this with the plot of play about the insecure Moor, and it was also an opportune moment for the script writers to use the phrase 'snotting and be-grollying the bogie-rag'. Actually, if I'm going to be pedantic, a phrase might just be 'be-grollying the bogie-rag', and the rest of my quoted piece a dependant clause. Or is the phrase merely 'snotting and be-grollying'? Interesting.
It's been a busy week, if not a particularly interesting one. I have finally - FINALLY! - resumed going through the edited manuscript of the upcoming Howling on a Concrete Moon. Soon I will have to approve cover art, sign off to print, and launch the book. That will be your cue to purchase said book, should you so desire. Forgive what appears to be gauche self-promotion, but my name's not JK Rowling.
My mood has been one of severe fractiousness lately. Possibly because I have been very busy with work, and the heat at the moment is freakish for this time of year. Hey, Autumn? We're halfway though March already, so you can make your presence felt. As well as work, I am tutoring school kids in English after school. This I am enjoying, and am quite excited about. If I can prevent just one misplaced apostrophe appearing in a future business sign, then this is a good thing.
I guess it doesn't matter that I'm busy because besides Upstart Crow (and repeats of that awesome Nineties satire Frontline), there is not much on free-to-air. Every time I get a chance to turn on the television, it appears to be a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond. Not everybody loves Raymond. I, for one, seriously loathe the unfunny cockwomble. Aside from the titular character, the most repulsive character on the show is not even in most episodes: it's Peter, Amy's brother. In case you're wondering why I am so au fait with the names of characters in a show I obviously detest, I will point out I had to look online to find that character's name. He's repulsive because he decried Amy's choice of beau to their parents because her beau (Robert) was the first man she with whom she had engaged in intercourse. I remember him bawling like a bull with it's balls being slammed: 'Her VIRGINITY, Ma!' Yes, I know this is a fictional show (and thank fuck for that), but does anybody else find his refusal to let his thirty-something sister have agency over her own body a touch disturbing? Honestly, this show must have the creepiest families ever. You can't call the Munsters or the Addams family creepy because they're simply not; they're loving and respectful. Nope, this show is full of creeps, and always seems to be on when I get a chance to flick on the teev.
I didn't do much celebrating of St Patrick's Day yesterday, save to look up and listen to a poignant rendition of The Town I Loved so Well. So many happy memories of family get togethers, when we'd sing that. My late aunt would conduct. And by conduct, I mean robustly wave her arms and sway her whole body. The woman could guide in a landing plane through pea soup fog. Oh, and a cue for my favourite St Patrick joke - Q: What did St Patrick say as he was driving the snakes from Ireland?
A: You boys all right in the back there?
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