Flight of The Conchords

   

Living in a different country can be tough. I don't know what I would do without comedy to get me through some of the more difficult lonely periods here, and something which has been bringing me joy during a few low moments since living here has been duo Bret and Jemaine. If you've never watched or listened to Flight of The Conchords, stop reading this post and go and do it RIGHT NOW. I've just finished rewatching the show for the second time, but am constantly listening to the soundtrack when pottering around the house and doing whatever. There is a song for however you might be feeling, some sad, some happy, but what they all have in common is that they help you to take life a little less seriously and laugh a little in the face of life's little problems. 

        For those who aren't familiar, the show follows two New Zealanders as they try to survive in New York city with their semi-failing band and equally poor success with relationships, all whilst being followed around by their obsessive fan Mel. I won't go into any more detail than that but here are some of my favourite bits of theirs for seasoned fans, and something to give people who have just made this wonderful discovery a taster! You can watch both series and their 'Live in London' show from their tour last year on HBO. 

Inner City Pressure - A song I can definitely feel I can relate to at times!

I'm Not Crying - Another song I can relate to and listen to when I'm feeling sorry for myself.

As much as I could happily go on and post a whole tonne of clips I'll leave it there as I don't want to spoil all the fun!

Thanks for reading!

Jess

Stath Lets Flats

If you haven't been watching it already, I highly recommend watching Stath Lets Flats. Here's the wonderful protagonist himself, the Greek-Cypriot Stath (Jamie Demetriou) who stars alongside his sister Sophie (his real life sister Natasia) as they form part of a dysfunctional but 'happy go lucky' team at his father's estate agents 'Michael & Eagle', whilst competing against neighbouring rivals 'Smethwicks'. This has become a firm favourite in my house and I'll be sad to watch the last episode next week! If you want to catch up in time for the last ep, it's available on All 4 https://www.channel4.com/programmes/stath-lets-flats/on-demand/57851-001. Enjoy!

Tchau for now!

My Top 5: Vic and Bob

Immortalised in the illustration above are, in my eyes, one of the most iconic duos in British comedy. Vic and Bob are at least partly responsible for beginning my love affair with comedy, and in this post I want to share my top 5 moments from these two, the kings of eccentricity and surreal humour. They are listed by number, but I really struggled to actually rank them so consider them all as equally fantastic.

1. The Club (Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer)

Getting off to a flying start, I give you The Club. Taken from their 1999 tv series 'Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer', it follows the story of brothers Paul and Tony Barron as they try to keep 'Hulls Premier Nightclub' afloat.

2.  Masterchef 

Next up we go back in time to when Masterchef was fronted by the one and only Lloyd Grossman, before he decided to make jars of sauce instead. Vic not only parodies Grossman but improves on the original man himself in this sketch where he tries three of the contestants most creative dishes...

3. Catterick

Catterick became a firm favourite in my house this Christmas when I showed it to the whole family, who thoroughly enjoyed the series. Vic and Bob are back as brothers, this time Carl and Chris palmer, as they reunite in their hometown, Catterick, where Carl attempts to find his long lost son.

4. George Dawes and the caravan salesman

This clip from shooting stars requires very little introduction, just watch...

5. Vic and Bob's Afternoon Delights - Mostly Unhaunted

The last jewel in this treasure trove is taken from the YouTube series 'Afternoon Delights' the duo did for Fosters a few years back. Other highlights include a bit of Parkour and the 'Rock 'n' Rollers', but in this instalment (there's a second part too) we see Vic and Bob as they attempt to make contact with  the afterworld with some shocking results...

I hope you all (which could be potentially 0 people) enjoyed this post, which was extremely difficult to narrow down. If you have any Reeves and Mortimer recommendations please comment and let me know, I would love to see what else I am yet to discover!

WIBLTTW No. 2 (What I've Been Listening To This Week)

1. The Magic Numbers

This is a band I listened to a lot as a teenager and hadn't put on in yonks, until last week. The British group of brothers and sisters have such a unique sound, and their latest single 'Ride Against the Wind' doesn't disappoint, unlike is often the case when groups don't release anything for a while. Rediscovering the Magic Numbers led to a huge playlist being created with the Zutons, Razorlight and others that were also staples on my iPod at the time. All I'm waiting for now is for the Magic Numbers to do a cover of 'California Dreamin'.

2. Kinobe - Slip Into Something More Comfortable

This is an absolute CHUNE which I must play every time I set foot on a beach. Since I'm lucky enough that most of the beaches I go to now have beautiful sand, turquoise water, palm trees, sun and all that good generic beach stuff, this song is the perfect soundtrack. (I also enjoy listening to Groove Armada's at the river, which has a similar vibe). Don't get me wrong though I miss the more wild beaches in England and really look forward to going home and having them on my doorstep, just with a different song playing through my headphones...

3. John Cooper Clarke

John Cooper Clarke was for a long time just a cool looking character I saw on the TV every once in a while. He was a poet and I knowed it, but I had never thought to have look or listen to his poetry. The first poem I listened to, as I'm sure many others did, was 'I Wanna Be Yours' which is a down to earth love song, I guess, which is romantic without being soppy. I don't like soppy (well I say I don't like soppy). Other favourites of mine are 'Twat' (best lyrics ever) and '(I Married a) Monster from Outer Space', but I still have a bazillion more poems to listen to and add to that list of favourites. JCC is not your typical poet so give him a listen even if you're not a poetry person.

Hope you enjoyed reading what I've been listening to this week!

Tchau for now!

Shut the bux up!

Adam Buxton. The man is a genius, as well as a comedian, writer, actor and podcasty person. I was first introduced to him thanks to my buddy Robert Tiberius Jaques, with his 'Countryman' sketches, in which he performs the role of an eccentric guy roaming the countryside in search of creatures and other things that are not there or better said, things which only he is able to observe or interpret. That was an unexpectedly long sentence. Anywho, after that it took me a few years before I revisited the world of Count Buck-u-lees, and my re-entry came when I fancied a wee listen to one of his wonderful tunes, the one in question 'Ratatouille (The Rat Control The Cook!)'. Through this my eyes were opened to a whole metric shit-tonne of other songs by Dr Bucks, with favourites of mine including his potential 'Spectre' theme which I find genuinely captures the essence of the James Bond movie franchise, and the classic, 'Moby Song' which is a kind of a musical Where's Wally. 

'Ratatouille (The Rat Control The Cook!)' by Adam Buxton

Delving further into YouTube, I discovered the weird and wonderful realm of Adam and Joe, Adam's partner in comedy for many a year and a childhood friend of his. Many podcasts were played from back in their days of BBC Radio 6 but the best discovery was the even more weird and wonderful 'Adam and Joe Go Tokyo', which originally aired on BBC three. The eight episodes were filmed on location in Japan and show all cornucopia of the famed Japanese eccentricity whilst Adam and Joe try their chances at becoming famous over there. When I make my return to that island in the north sea/Atlantic that call home, this summer, I'm looking forward to binge watching the regular Adam and Joe Show on Channel 4, which I've seen a few clips of. One of which you can see in Figure 2:

   Figure 2: Room For Change sketch from 

Most recently, I have been religiously listening to The Adam Buxton Podcast, where his truly interviews a whole host of cool people (about half of which I am unfamiliar with because I am not that cool). As well as learning about the cool people and finding new shows and musicians as a result ,the jingles must not be left unmentioned because they really are SUTIN ELSE. If you're interested in discovering more about Sir Buxton, there is all manner of stuff on the YouTubes, but I would like to give a special mention to his 'BUG' prog's, which he has most kindly uploaded to his channel (Adam Buxton). Check them OUT.
     
To summarise, I want to say a few words about what Adam means to me. Watching and listening to Adam (and his shiz with Joe too) is like getting together for a laugh with your friends, because his many catchphrases really make you feel like you are part of sutin and they are bloody hilarious. His podcasts may be with all da celebs, but he's just a lu'ly, lu'ly family guy at heart and always a joy to hear. I currently have a list of people I'm waiting with bated breath for him to do a podcast with but I will try to remain patient.

Well, that's it for this post so to quote the man himself...

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

WIBLTTW No. 1 (What I've Been Listening To This Week)

1. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows

A classic and beautiful song. Also, the album 'Pet Sounds' has the best album artwork I have seen in my entire life. One word: goats.


2. AIM - Demonique

I have loved the song 'Cold Water Music' from the album 'Cold Water Music' for many years now, but hadn't really given the rest of the album a chance (I'm one of those people that will bore themselves to death with a song, and forget that there could actually be other good things on the album). A good motivational song, in my opinion. Also, listen to Cold Water Music (the song).

3. Alex Turner - Glass In The Park

It was the acoustic version of 'Piledriver Waltz' which brought me to discover this album. I am rather fond of movie soundtracks, and this one is pretty damn marvelous. I am yet to watch the movie... anyone who knows me will not be surprised about this considering my track record of watching movies. I plan on watching it in the not too distant future as it is directed by Richard Ayoade who is one of my favourite people.


That's three songs from this week. I'm going to keep these posts fairly short, I could blabber on about what the song means or how they 'speak to me' but that's different for everyone so I'll leave that to the listener.

Chau!

Oh my do'd!

I would like to make my first post all about one of my new favourite comedians and human beings, David O'Doherty. So I am. Whilst bingeing on episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown the other day, which I must add is another new favourite show of mine (I didn't really give it the time of day before, dunno why), I 'discovered' the DO'D. I don't know whether it was the charm of his dublin accent or his face that makes me want to grab both cheeks or the fact he is VERY FUNNY, but it was a kind of love at first sight. In a non-lovey way.

I began to search high and low on youtube for more of keyboard kreations, with personal highlights of my search including 'I've Got Short Legs' and 'The Grand Designs song'.

                  'I've Got Quite Short Legs' by David O'Doherty.

A particular gem which I chanced upon was his RTE (Irish national telly and radio) one series tv series. 'The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty' is a simple concept but shows you how your everyday life can be fun, if you try to make it fun . It is marvellous, and will make you smile if you are feeling like a miserable git and need a warm hug from your screen. It follows David in 2007, as he tries new things and schemes all whilst working his way up the ladder as a now world renowned comedian. The episodes I liked especially were episodes 1 and 5, where David cycles across the country and makes a short film on how Sir Ernest Shackleton keeps coming a cropper due to penguins, respectively.

                  'Why Shackleton Went to The Antarctic' from episode 5.

Although he will probably never read this, I would like to thank David for his existence and showing that if you actually act on your ideas and dreams it can lead to big things. I hope you enjoyed this post and insight into the DO'D, go check out his stuff if you want a big smile across your face.

Chau for now.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my new writing place. I already have a wildlife blog, but since my brain is filled with many other wonderous and turdy things in equal quantities I decided to create another outlet for my creative moments, joys, and of course the things that make me want to bang my head against a wall. So expect a delightful cornucopia of crap from here on out.

Enjoy!