Technofear and Tellybabble

[jacey]

Great night at the Village Hall with Roger Davies. We had an almost capacity crowd and were so impressed that we've invited him back to do a short spot on the Saturday evening festival concert in July.

But that's not what this entry's about.

I thought I'd conquered my fear of the DVD recorder. Several times I have set it to record and several times it has recorded the correct programme at the correct time. I 'get' it, OK! But twice in recent weeks I have set it to record Primeval and twice - despite everything checking out - it has NOT recorded. I did everything correctly. My DVD recorder chose not to obey my perfectly clear instructions.

Conclusion? I think my DVD recorder is scared of monsters.

But the upshot is that I don't get to see the final episode of Primeval until next Saturday afternoon's repeat. Bummer. Don't tell me how it ends... or even how it  cliffhangs...

By the way did anyone see the first episode of 'Being Human'? A vampire, werewolf and ghost sharing a flat sounded like a recipe for comedy, but it wasn't and I found it strangely compelling. More please.

And did anyone see the first episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Virgin (Freeview)? I was gobsmacked to discover that the actress playing Sarah Connor is none other than Lena Headey. Though she's got a perfect American tough guy (woman) accent she was, in fact, just a few years ahead of my daughter at Shelley High School. Yes, she's a Yorkshire lass from 'round here'. When Darling Daughter was doing drama at Shelley High there was a kerfuffle because a film company came round to audition 'unknowns' for the live action version of Jungle Book. DD auditioned but at 13 she was really too young for the part, however Lena - then 17 ish - got it... and never looked back.. Shelley High has a great drama department. Their other recent 'star' is Jodie Whittaker who was a friend of my son at school. Starring opposite Peter O'Toole in 'Venus' seems to have launched her career pretty thoroughly.... Not surprising really.

Comments

[del-c.livejournal.com]

There's a TV series called Pushing Daisies, about a small-town American man who can bring the dead back to life. I haven't seen it yet, but I saw a still of the actress who plays the lead's love interest and I thought "that looks like Anna Friel".

And it is. Small-town American woman is played by the Rochdale-born actress. I guess this is the House effect, where producers now realise that the state of the art in voice coaching is such that they no longer have to worry if an actor is from the UK, even if the part is for a native-born American character. At least, I haven't heard that Friel is unconvincing in the role.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I was at college with Tilda Swinton: we were in the same seminar group in our first year. It's weird how this happens.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

The nearest I ever got to 'fame' in one of my contemporaries was knowing a man who stood next to Mick Jagger in the gents, and having a friend who taught Linda McCartney to play the piano. Oh, yes, and Jenni Murray used to go to our school and she's my age, so she was quite likely in my year... (or maybe the year above or below) but I can't remember her.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the mention of "Being Human". We can't get BBC3, but it's available for download on the BBC's iPlayer. :)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I haven't explored i-player yet. I'm not sure I want to watch TV on my computer. I don't suppose you can burn off DVD discs from downloads for playing in your DVD player, that would be a) too easy and b) probably infringing all sorts of copyright laws.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Watching on the computer isn't as good as watching in a comfy armchair in front of the TV, but it does mean that I don't have to remember to set the video recorder (still on tape here!) for "Ashes to Ashes". :)

I have now added "Being Human" to my Must Watch list -- which is incredibly short.

Having just now watched the first episode I was really impressed. Of course it depends on how it proceeds from here, but the mixture of humour and hints of darkness was just right for my tastes.

[charlieallery.livejournal.com]

Very much liked Lena Headey in Imagine Me and You and a few other things I've seen her in. Shall have to check out the Sarah Connor Chronicles. :)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I thought she was very good. I'll reserve judgement on the Sarah Connor Chronicles until I see whether it becomes more than a lot of shooting and running about.

It's nice to see Summer Glau make an appearance after her outstanding performance as River in Firefly.