Watching Bad Clips

Some people feel a bit soiled and embarrassed if they look at porn on the Internet.  I just did something worse, and You Tube'd 'I'm Alive' by ELO.  Hey, nothing wrong with a bit of the old Electric Light Orchestra.  They do have something of a unique sound, and I love them.  'Rockaria' is probably my favourite of theirs.  It just drives with passion, tells of a unique juxtaposition of a rocker and an opera singer, and of a party between their friends where at the end 'everybody was as one', with a fantastic build up to that final note.  I have always liked it, anyway.

But the reason I feel a bit cacky for looking at a clip of 'I'm Alive' is that it accompanied the opening of that execrable flick from the early Eighties, 'Xanadu'.  Even as the fourteen-year-old I then was, I saw straight through the producers' intent, which was to cash in on the Olivia Newton-John craze and combine it with the roller skating craze, and in doing so produced a steaming shitball of a movie.  Surprisingly, the guy in the lead (not Gene Kelly, the other one) is still acting, I would have thought that monstrosity would have killed his career dead as a stone.   If you haven't seen the opening, it appears to tell of the nine granddaughters of Zeus, to wit, muses, coming to life.  They're on a mural somewhere, and each start doing some dance.  When Livvy comes to life, her overacting is embarrassing.  But most of the girls with whom I was at school really loved that flick.  Except me.  I was a snotty cerebral nark of a kid whose heart belonged to Luke Skywalker.  The only thing that I could really cope with from that flick was 'I'm Alive' by ELO.

Didn't mind roller skating.  Wasn't very good at it.  My most vivid memory of it entails me careering toward a wall with my arms crossed in front of my face - it is my plan to retire on my good looks if the writing doesn't work out - as 'Fade to Grey' by Visage was being spun by the resident DJ.  I think I might have used that imagery in the manuscript I'm currently editing.  I will no doubt chance upon it as I go through with the editor's dreaded blue pencil, trying to be honest and admitting that line I thought was brilliant, is not so brilliant there.  Perhaps in another work?  One thing I hate about being a writer is the adage, 'you have to kill your darlings'.

Best get back to the editing, and get ready for trivia tonight.  It is starting early to accommodate the State of Origin match.  Who will win, NSW or Qld?  Hands up if you don't give a fuck.  Clue: I'm typing this with one hand whilst the other's in the air.