Scottish. Gay man. Living in Manchester. Gamer, downloader, gadget junkie. Live vicariously through me by visiting every day and discovering what it's like to be someone that isn't you. Shall we scroll on...?
Hello. It just occurred to me I haven't wished you a Happy New Year. So... Happy New Year. Anyway, down to business. Kylie Minogue starts her tour in Manchester tonight. It runs for six nights and by law every gay person in Manchester must attend.
Bizarrely enough I was invited on to Terry Christian's programme on BBC Radio Manchester this morning to talk about why Kylie Minogue is such a "gay icon". You can hear what I had to say about it by clicking the play button below. Count how many times I say "exactly" or "sensibilities"
Brian: Can I borrow your video recorder? Daisy: What you going to do? Stick it to a canvas as a piece depicting a nation of cathode junkies, selling their imaginations for quick-fix media hits from the Blockbuster syringe? Brian: No, I want to tape Ready Steady Cook.
A casual conversation at work the other day about the TV comedy Spaced has had me digging out the DVD's to watch this fantastic series all over again. Shown on Channel 4 in 1999, Spaced followed the lives of flatmates Tim Bisley and Daisy Steiner. Tim is a sci-fi geek with aspirations to be a comic book artist. Daisy is an aspiring journalist/writer, with absolutely no talent whatsoever. The subsidiary characters, such as Tim's best friend, the army-obsessed Mike; or Brian, the struggling artist who lives in the basement; and Marsha the leering landlady, are all just as well rounded and crafted as Tim and Daisy. All these characters are played to perfection.
There has been nothing like it since on British TV, and although the stars of the show (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jessica Stevenson) have gone on to bigger things, we can only hope that one day in the future they'll get together and do another batch of episodes. Or a one-off special at the very least.
At its best, Spaced was complete genius. Every episode was packed with pop culture references, observational humour and fantastic performances. The show celebrated it's geekiness gloriously, and rewards you on repeated viewing as you get more and more of the references. It's not aged at all, and deserves a repeat showing on E4.
If you've never experienced Spaced, now is the perfect time as the series has been re-released as a Collectors Edition DVD packed with extra material. It's an essential buy. Check out the condensed episode above for just a fleeting glimpse into the comedy genius of Spaced.
