Derren Brown - slain in the spirit

hmmm…. rings some bells for me

 

Voodoo 

Songs from the shows

I’m no fan of musical theatre. Well, fan is a big word… I have been to see a few musicals, and yes, like them… but that doesn’t make me a fan… The last one I went to see was Spamalot, which was in fact brilliant. My mate GE was with me and she was a big fan, so I allowed myself to be swept along, which is always the best way I feel. Before that I went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - it had all the great names… WILMOT-BLAIR-BIGGINS!!! A great show.

Understand that I’m not gay or ought, but I love musicals.

Last night on the south bank show (embarrasingly for the best part of a decade I thought Melvin Bragg was Billy Bragg’s dad - I was shockingly fished in by someone!) Anyway the show was about the making of Viva la Diva which ‘stars’ opera singer Katherine Jenkins and Ballerina Darcey Bussell. (It’s notable that Bussell looks really like the thin one offa trinny and Susannah, and Jenkins is fairly hot!)

Truly truly awful: Jenkins can sing but is a rubbish dancer, Bussell can dance but can’t sing. But they both had to sing and dance songs from Broadway. My word, an absolute car crash. The opening night in Manchester was a peer ‘through your fingers’ experience as they sang out of tune and bumped into each other a lot.

Whoever told them it was a good idea, was less than inspired.

What’s your best Christmas memory?

Ok the reception in my office have a CD player on non stop Christmas hits, and the office smells of pine - so im well and truly in the mood. Lets do this thing.

Gimme your earliest or best Christmas memories.

First one that pops into my head is thus…

My sister and I never had stocking hung up (though I think we did have a dad sock each filled with oranges and apples)… in stead we had a chair each in the lounge.

I’d usually wake up at around 3-4 am on the day, sneak out into the landing where my wee sis was usually waiting, too scared to go downstairs by herself in case ‘the big man’ was still there. We’d creep downstairs very slowly, usually feeling a little cold, but more shaking with the excitement of it all, almost unable to hold it in. We’d open the lounge door and before we’d turn on the light we could see that ‘he’d been’ because of the silhouettes on the chairs. We’d pause for a moment, almost wanting to delay it a second or two longer, then turn on the light to revel all. Truly magical. I’d drive my remote control truck into the mum and dads room at 4am… to ‘show’ them what Santa had brung.

Flight of the conchords

The series is almost over, so it seems a bit late for a recommendation…. but Flight of the Conchords on BBC3, is very very funny.

From a shabby apartment on the Lower East Side, the friends spend their days seeking gigs for their digi-folk act, Flight of the Conchords (New Zealand’s “fourth most popular folk act”) in a bid to break onto the world stage.