Snowed six feet under
I’m letting the blogging side down a bit at the mo, I know, but there are mitigating circumstances. Work, mainly. Not only are we in the throes of developing Forty-20 magazine (see ‘Snakes and Ladders’, right, or scratchingshedpublishing.co.uk – first issue on sale Weds July 13), we’ve also got a couple more books coming out. The first of these, A Lawyer for All Seasons, is the memoirs – sporting and otherwise – of Ronnie Teeman, Leeds legal eagle, former rugby league president, friend of the sporting superstars. It’s out on July 1 and well worth a look, your honour. The second – for which we don’t yet have a confirmed publishing date – is From Hull to Hell and Back, the autobiography of rugby league legend Lee Crooks. Having just edited said tome, I can confirm that it’s an absolute cracker. Packed with great anecdotes, it’s by turns funny, shocking, insightful and moving. You’ll find it in all good bookshops – and one or two public houses, I shouldn’t wonder – later this summer.
So much for the adverts, what else have I been up to? Oh family stuff mainly, during which it occurred that there ought to be a term for the wasted food you consistently put on your offsprings’ plates with the intention of coaxing them into eating more healthily, in the full realisation that the process is futile; it is always destined for the bin. Collateral damage maybe? ‘Vegetables,’ suggests middle child.
For fun and entertainment, by the last episode – or ‘season finale’ as I believe we must now say – of series one, I’m finally getting into Six Feet Under. It’s been a bit of a slog and rarely have there been so many unattractive personalities in one televisual setting, but it’s turning out to be a bit of a grower and the writing is quirky and wise. I particularly like the opening few minutes every week, when some poor sap pops their clogs in a most imaginative way. For some reason this puts me in mind of the opening of Camberwick Green – or was it Trumpton? – when you had to guess which of the characters would be rising up out of the musical biscuit tin. Would it be Dusty Miller or PC McGarry number 452? Now that was fun.
Also been enjoying the second series of Justified; looking at ladies’ bottoms on Game of Thrones; catching up again with old friends The Sopranos and Arrested Development (still can’t believe some maniac actually cancelled that); and chuckling at Stewart Lee and the second series of Psychoville on BBC HD. Musically, after being smitten by Allison Moorer’s version of ‘Carrickfergus’ on BBC4′s Transatlantic Sessions, I’m now obsessed; and in terms of reading for pleasure alone I greatly admired James Frey’s LA novel Bright Shiny Morning and am currently lapping up Michael Holroyd’s A Strange Eventful History – a dual biography of Victorian thesps Ellen Terry and Henry Irving.
It’s turning into the Culture Show this, innit? The blogs will once again be more regular once Forty-20 magazine is up and running. In the meantime here’s Allison Moorer for company. If you have whiskey prepare to drink it; if you have tears prepare to shed them now.
Pretty sure it was Camberwick Green with the character coming out of the box. I always guessed Windy Miller. It always ended with a dance at 4 or 5 O’Clock. No legging it to the pub for those lads.
Give the HBO series Carnivale a go. I think you’ll like it. Don’t jump in mid series, start at the beginning or it’ll confuse the feck out of ya.
Sorry. When I put “surely that’s obvious” I didn’t quite realise that it would appear as a username. Double Doh! I meant that surely it was obvious from my e-mail address. I’m a 45rpm fella in a downlode world.
Ha! You daft beggar. Have you got a digital watch yet?
Although I own one I never wear it. I prefers my reliable wind-up pocket watch. Fits nicely in the watch pocket of my jeans of course.