Sunday 29 March 2020

Twitter Twatter #80

Almost catching up, here's February 2020 on the Twitter.


































Thursday 26 March 2020

Stewart Lee's Toilet Books

Possibly to help in these days of self-isolation, every episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle has been made available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

I went to see this TV show being recorded with my sister. When we arrived at the venue, I took our coats to the cloakroom while she found us some seats. As we separated I said "don't sit at the front", I walked into the main auditorium and discovered that she had sat right on the front row. When the lights went I was still very much illuminated. I find myself featured far more prominently than I had expected.


I'll do posts on the later episodes, that lead to me putting this show on my acting CV, but in the meantime, I make a couple of very fleeting appearances in the first episode, Toilet Books. Thats's not why you should watch it though. You should watch because it's very well observed, very funny and really hasn't dated much in the eleven years since it was first broadcast. You can watch it here.


I have no idea about watching it places other than the UK.

Monday 23 March 2020

Outside In: Harsh Realm

In this post, I stated that I had a piece for the first volume of ATB Publishing's Outside In book about The X-Files and that I was thrilled that Harsh Realm was getting some recognition.

In a brilliant confluence of events, I've now written an article for the second volume and it's about an episode of Harsh Realm.


It would be remiss of me not to point out that they are also putting together Outside In Makes It So Supplemental, a sequel to their book about Star Trek: The Next Generation covering the first season of Star Trek: Picard. I have made absolutely no contribution to this book, but I am looking to reading it enormously.


Friday 20 March 2020

Thinking Aloud

Train Of Thought goes stationary. The audience could hear the thoughts of the characters on radios as they watched the action unfold.

I wrote for two of the characters in Thinking Aloud, the Train Of Thought-style site-specific show performed at the Institute Of Contemporary Arts twice on the 5th of April 2008, the artist performed by Jonathan Christie and the glass collector played by Ben Thompson.

Sadly, no recording exists. That's not the sort of thing you hear much in this day and age and seems more appropriate when related to The Power Of The Daleks, Episode Three. After the hard drive that it was stored on was lost in a burglary, all that was left was the script.


I'll try and find it, so I can post it here.

Tuesday 17 March 2020

Outside In X Covers Revealed

ATB Publishing have revealed the covers for their Outside In volumes covering The X-Files universe.


They've used the same template as the covers for their previous Outside Ins, but with a different colour each time blue (20th century Doctor Who), red (21st century Doctor Who), yellow (the original Star Trek), purple (Star Trek: The Next Generation), orange (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer), green (Angel) and now grey (The X-Files volume 1) and black (The X-Files volume 2). What will they do now they've seemingly exhausted the visible spectrum?


Wednesday 11 March 2020

Virtual Reality

ATB Publishing has released this image to clarify the contents of their two Outside In volumes covering The X-Files...


The real takeaway here is that Harsh Realm is joining Millennium and The Lone Gunman and finally being recognised as part of The X-Files universe. Well, and that mine is one of the 156 essays in the first volume.

Wednesday 4 March 2020

Insecure Writer's Support Group #3

Another month, another Insecure Writers Support Group.

This month's support group is co-hosted by Jacqui Murray, Lisa Buie-Collard, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre and Shannon Lawrence. A big thank you to them.

Since last month's post, writing really has taken a back seat. Between work and childcare and trying to get more work there hasn't been time for more than a couple of sentences here and there. The strangest thing is that whilst I haven't had time to commit anything to paper, I've been absolutely brimming with ideas.

Isn't that weird?

This month's (optional) question is: "Other than the obvious holiday traditions, have you ever included any personal or family traditions/customs in your stories?"

Not really. I once wrote a sketch about Scrooge and Marley from A Christmas Carol quibbling over the details of the ghostly night ahead.

MARLEY
Believe in me or not, it changes nothing. You will be visited by three spirits.

SCROOGE
Oh, let me get a pen.

MARLEY
It’s quite simple.

SCROOGE
Just a second. You can never find one when you need it, can you?

MARLEY
Where was I?

SCROOGE
I will be visited-

MARLEY
You will be visited by three spirits.

SCROOGE
(as he writes)
I will be visited by two more spirits.

MARLEY
Expect the first tomor- What? 
SCROOGE
Three excepting yourself leaves two, Jacob, you should know that. Arithmetic was always your strongpoint, in life.


And so on. They treat a supernatural experience with all the reverence of a contractual disagreement. They split hairs, argue and completely squander an opportunity for a reunion. I was quite pleased with it.

Sunday 1 March 2020

Carruthers Ten Years On: March 2010

March 2010 on the Carruthers Blog. It was a pretty boring month.

The best post is Non Sequiter. It's probably truer now, than it was then.

Satire.