millionreasons | 2010 in Twelve Days

Holiday: Guernsey and Sark. When I think about Sark now, I do wonder if it wasn't a dream. It's such an unreal place. I'd love to be rich and have a holiday home there, although I don't really approve of holiday homes. Perhaps a holiday barn.

Book - Mr Pye by Mervyn Peake (see above)

Film - Scott Pilgrim

Song - Furniture – You must be out of your brilliant mind. "I'm at the stage where everything that once meant something seems so unappealing"

Days Out - Open House

TV - Grandma's House, aka:

The Royle Family - The Middle Class Jewish version. The meta fiction concept of this didn't interest me so much; it would have been a lot better if the character Simon Amstell had been a fictional character called Solly, or something. It would have been a lot better if Simon Amstell hadn't been in it at all. His acting was awful, no - atrocious. If he and an average Hollyoaks actor turned up to the same casting session, the Hollyoaks actor would look like Sir Ian McKellen by comparison. But I love character-led comedy, no macho panel show bullying, no catchphrase sketches, no fart jokes or stand up observational comedy, no mushy stuff (I still resent Caroline Aherne for the sentimentality of The Queen of Sheba, and I was in a minority of one for hating that last episode of Blackadder Go Forth) - I've never watched Seinfield but I liked its mantra of “no hugging no learning.”

I particularly liked Simon's mum's paramour, Clive. The kind of man who's always got a catchphrase and driving tips. He was determined to be friends with Simon but all the while ensuring people knew he wasn't gay, not realizing Simon's Oedipal rage towards him (Simon writes an “abstract" play about an evil egg who inadvertently smashes a homeless egg). I also liked Simon's 14 yr old cousin who was entering his teen rebellious phases by deciding not to become an Independent Finacial Advisor. There were great small details, Grandad reading the JC, Simon taking home a slice of birthday cake in a napkin, and some fabulous lines:

“His wife left him”
“Why?”
“He ran over a tramp”

*

"Can't you go out with Will Young? You could bring him to my wedding"

"I don't know Will Young, I don't have his number.

"You have Daniel Bedingfield's Number."

"They're not the same person. They have separate phones"

*

"He's so thin. I'd love to go on a date with him. He looks like it might be his last date."

*

"You retired at your peak. Who else finished at their peak? Buddy Holly? Fern Britton?"